Thomas Simpson Evans (1777–1818) was a British mathematician.

Life

Evans, eldest son of the Rev. Lewis Evans (1755–1827), by his wife, Ann Norman, was baptised in August 1777. He was named after

Thomas Simpson Thomas Simpson FRS (20 August 1710 – 14 May 1761) was a British mathematician and inventor known for the eponymous Simpson's rule to approximate definite integrals. The attribution, as often in mathematics, can be debated: this rule had b ...

, the mathematician. In or about 1797 Evans appears to have taken charge of a private observatory at Blackheath belonging to William Larkins, formerly accountant-general to the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

in Bengal. After the death of Larkins, 24 April 1800, he was taken on as an assistant by

Nevil Maskelyne Nevil Maskelyne (; 6 October 1732 – 9 February 1811) was the fifth British Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811. He was the first person to scientifically measure the mass of the planet Earth. He created '' The Nautical Al ...

at the

Royal Observatory, Greenwich The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in Gre ...

, but resigned the post in 1805. In that year, or perhaps in 1803, Evans was appointed mathematical master under his father at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...

. Here he continued until 1810, when he accepted the mastership of the mathematical school at

New Charlton Charlton Riverside, previously known as New Charlton, is the area along the south bank of the river Thames at Charlton, London, which forms part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It was formerly a primarily industrial zone, known for the glass a ...

, near Woolwich, which office he vacated in 1813 to become master of the mathematics at Christ's Hospital, London. His attainments won for him the degree of LL.D. (from what university is not known) and the fellowship of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

. Evans died 28 October 1818, aged 41.

Works

Evans left a completed translation of Antonio Cagnoli's ''Trigonometria piana e sferica'', besides other translations of scientific works and a collection of unfinished papers in several branches of philosophy. He also contributed some articles to the ''

Philosophical Magazine The ''Philosophical Magazine'' is one of the oldest scientific journals published in English. It was established by Alexander Tilloch in 1798;John Burnett"Tilloch, Alexander (1759–1825)" Dictionary of National Biography#Oxford Dictionary of ...

'', among which were: *"Problems on the Reduction of Angles" (vol. xxviii.); *"An Abridgment of the Life of Julien Le Roy, the Watchmaker, by his Son" (vol. xxxi.); *"A Short Account of Improvements gradually made in determining the Astronomic Refraction" (vol. xxxvi.); *"Historical Memoranda respecting Experiments intended to ascertain the Calorific Powers of the different Prismatic Rays" (vol. xlv.); *"On the Laws of Terrestrial Magnetism in different Latitudes" (vol. xlix.). Evans's library was considered a valuable collection of mathematical and philosophical works.

Family

By his marriage in 1797 to Deborah, daughter of John Mascall of Ashford, Kent, Evans had five children: *Thomas Simpson Evans (1798–1880), vicar of

St Leonard's, Shoreditch St Leonard's, Shoreditch, is the old parish church of Shoreditch, often known simply as Shoreditch Church. It is located at the intersection of Shoreditch High Street with Hackney Road, within the London Borough of Hackney in East London. The c ...

; *Aspasia Evans (1799–1876), a spinster; *Herbert Norman Evans, M.D. (1802–1877), book collector; *Arthur Benoni Evans (d. 1838); and *Lewis Evans (1815–1869), head-master of Sandbach Free Grammar School, Cheshire.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Thomas Simpson 1777 births 1818 deaths 19th-century English mathematicians 18th-century British astronomers 19th-century British astronomers