2011 is the 300th anniversary of Robert Simson’s appointment to the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Glasgow, and the 250th anniversary of his retiral. 

Simson, known as ‘the Restorer of Grecian Geometry’, was a very major figure in eighteenth-century Scottish mathematics.  His edition of Euclid’s Elements of Geometry was hugely influential and remained the basis of most other English Euclids until late in the nineteenth century, and as the teacher of mathematicians including Colin Maclaurin and Matthew Stewart, he had a profound impact on the development of Scottish Enlightenment science.  Simson was the first Clerk of Senate and left his valuable collection of mathematical and scientific books and papers to the University.  

To explore the contribution of mathematics to the Scottish Enlightenment, and to celebrate the Simson anniversaries, a one-day event will be held on 19 October 2011, supported by the Chancellor’s Fund and the European Research Council.  All with an interest in the history of mathematics, the Scottish Enlightenment, history of the book, the history of Glasgow University, or literature and mathematics, are cordially invited to join us.

The afternoon’s papers will be given in the Carnegie Room.  Please contact Alice Jenkins (alice.jenkins@glasgow.ac.uk) for further information.

Programme:

11am:  Opportunity to view highlights from the Simson Collection in the Special Collections Library, including Simson’s annotated copy of Newton’s Principia

12.45pm:  Dr June Barrow-Green, Open University: Euclid and the History of the Book: English editions of the Elements from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Centuries 

1.45pm:  John Burnett, Principal Curator of Modern Scotland, National Museum of Scotland: Where did Robert Simson Acquire the Books in his Library?

2.30pm: Tea

3.00pm: Professor Alexander Broadie, University of Glasgow: Robert Simson, Adam Smith and Thomas Reid

4.00pm: Professor Matthew Wickman, Brigham Young University and University of Aberdeen: Lines, Surfaces, Solids: Poetry by Other Names

First published: 14 October 2011

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