James gregory mathematician biography project

James Gregory FRS (November 1638 – October 1675) was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer. He described an early practical design for the reflecting telescope – the Gregorian telescope – and made advances in trigonometry, discovering infinite series representations for several trigonometric functions.

Biography

The youngest of the 3 children of John Gregory, an Episcopalian Church of Scotland minister, James was born in the manse at Drumoak, Aberdeenshire, and was initially educated at home by his mother, Janet Anderson.

James gregory mathematician biography project

It was his mother who endowed Gregory with his appetite for geometry, her brother – Alexander Anderson – having been a pupil and editor of Viète. After his father's death in 1651 his elder brother David took over responsibility for his education.

He was sent to Aberdeen Grammar School, and then to Marischal College, graduating in 1657.

In 1663 he went to London, meeting John Collins and fellow Scot Robert Moray, the first President of the Royal Society. I