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Saunderson, Nicholas, 1682-1739 (mathematician)

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1682 - 1739

Biography

Nicholas Saunderson [Sanderson] (1682-1739), Lucasian professor of mathematics was born to an exciseman in Yorkshire. He was baptised in 1683. He lost his eyesight to smallpox when he was a year old. At an early age he was taught arithmetic by his father whom he helped with his excise work. At 24 Saunderson went to Cambridge and resided with a friend at Christ's College, though not as a member of the University. Hoping to teach he was allowed to form a class by the Lucasian professor, William Whiston, and taught mathematics, astronomy and optics. Saunderson built a reputation as an excellent teacher, so much so that when Whiston was expelled from the professorship in 1710 Saunderson was made MA by special patent from Queen Anne to enable him to become Lucasian professor. He continued to live at Christ's until 1723 when he took a house in Cambridge and married Abigail Dickons. They had two children. In 1728 he was made Doctor of Laws. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1718 and also sat on the Board of Longitude. He died of scurvy 1739. He didn't publish whilst alive, but his Algebra, which he had been working on for six years, was published by subscription in 1740.

Found in 7 Collections and/or Records:

 Fonds

Edmund Hopkinson: Notes on Nicholas Saunderson's Lectures

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9752
Scope and Contents

Covers mechanicks, hydrostaticks, pneumaticks, sounds, opticks, the rainbow, astronomy and tides.

Dates: 1723
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

Letter from Nicholas Saunderson to William Jones, 4 February 1713 (1713/14)

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9597/13/5/233
Scope and Contents From the File:

This is an album consisting primarily of holograph letters to and from 17th and 18th century scientists, including Collins, Oughtred, Cavendish, Briggs, Fermat, Oldenburg, Halley, Boyle, Wallis and others. There are also some copy letters and other scientific papers.

Dates: 4 February 1713 (1713/14)
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Due to the fragile nature of the material access to the collection is restricted. It is available to view in the Cambridge University Digital Library at https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/macclesfield/1
 Item

Letter from Nicholas Saunderson to William Jones, 1713

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9597/13/5/234
Scope and Contents From the File:

This is an album consisting primarily of holograph letters to and from 17th and 18th century scientists, including Collins, Oughtred, Cavendish, Briggs, Fermat, Oldenburg, Halley, Boyle, Wallis and others. There are also some copy letters and other scientific papers.

Dates: 1713
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Due to the fragile nature of the material access to the collection is restricted. It is available to view in the Cambridge University Digital Library at https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/macclesfield/1
 Fonds

Nicholas Saunderson: A Treatise of Fluxions

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.3444
Scope and Contents

fo. 5: shorthand note in pencil; fo. 5v: diagram; fo. 1: 'John Hall, Bought Clerk's Sale 1833.' Text written on every other leaf, alternate leaves either carrying diagrams or left blank. Printed as pp. vii-128 of Saunderson's Method of Fluxions, London, 1756.

Dates: 1738
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Fonds

Nicholas Saunderson: Lectures

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.2977
Scope and Contents

Notes on Sanderson's lectures in the hand of William Haswell. Includes: lectures on hydrostatics, sounds, optics (with others), mechanics, astronomy, tides, technical chronology, and the doctrine of heat and cold. With (fo. 128) copy of letter from James Bate to Hans Deveille, 3 Jan. 1726

Dates: 1725 (Circa)
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 File

Nicholas Saunderson: Lectures

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.6312
Scope and Contents A series of lectures on the tides and other scientific subjects delivered by Professor Saunderson, 125 folios. On fo. iv is an extract relating to Horace Walpole and Saunderson. The versos are mostly blank, but have occasional diagrams. (Fo. iv) 'T. Aynscough, Coll. Joh. Cant., 1737'; (fo. 1) 'Lectures on the Tides'; (fo. 9) 'Of the Ascent and Suspension of Liquors in Capillary Tubes'; (fo. 19) 'Of the Ascent and Suspension of Mercury in the Barometer'; (fo. 24) 'Of the Prolate Sphaeroidical...
Dates: 1737
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Fonds

Nicholas Saunderson: MS notes on his lectures on Fluxions

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9772
Dates: 1730-1750 (Circa)
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Additional filters:

Type
Collection 5
Archival Object 2
 
Subject
Astronomy 2
Mathematics 2
Barometers 1
Chronology 1
Hydrostatics 1