Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
If you would like to write a summary for this topic, email phil [at] gyford [dot] com
Wikipedia
| William Brouncker | |
 The 2nd Viscount Brouncker (1620-1684)
|
|
| Born | 1620 Castlelyons, Ireland |
|---|---|
| Died | April 6, 1684 (aged 64) Westminster, London, England |
| Residence | England |
| Fields | Mathematician |
| Institutions | Saint Catherine's Hospital |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
| Doctoral advisor | John Wallis |
| Known for | Brouncker's formula |
William Brouncker, 2nd Viscount Brouncker, FRS (1620 – 5 April 1684) was an English mathematician.
Brouncker obtained a PhD at the University of Oxford in 1647. He was one of the founders and the first President of the Royal Society. In 1662, he became Chancellor to Queen Catherine, then chief of the Saint Catherine's Hospital. His mathematical work concerned in particular the calculations of the lengths of the parabola and cycloid, and the quadrature of the hyperbola, which requires approximation of the natural logarithm function by infinite series. He was the first in England to take interest in generalised continued fractions and, following the work of John Wallis, he provided development in the generalised continued fraction of pi.
[edit] Brouncker's formula
This formula provides a development in generalized continued fraction of π:
.
[edit] External links
- O'Connor, John J. & Robertson, Edmund F., "William Brouncker, 2nd Viscount Brouncker", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Brouncker |
Viscount Brouncker 1645–1684 |
Succeeded by Henry Brouncker |
ų
Annotations
-
Brouncker was the first president of the Royal Society. Though he was trained as a physician, he was best noted for his work in mathematics.
An extensive biography appears at
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Brouncker.html
-
Brouncher [Brounchar] second Vicount, excellent Mathematitian [per J. Evelyn]
-
L&M Companion says:
“As an administrator he was active in all branches of the Board’s work, but took a special interest in finance and accounts… His relations with Pepys fluctuated, but were at bottom good. They had common interests in music and science, and despite occasional quarrels over competition for contractors’ favours, came to respect each other’s ability. ‘The truth is,’ Pepys wrote (25 Aug. 1668), ‘he is the best man of them all.’
-
Brouncker and Brounchar are also phonetic spellings of Brunkard. William is frequently confused with his younger brother Henry due to Henry’s inheriting of his elder brother’s title.
Henry suffers from some bad press in Pepy’s so be careful not to confuse them as some other online resources and certain new books about The Royal Society have.
Here is a link to an excellent potrait of William Brunkard, 2nd Viscount:
http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp00587&rNo=0&role=sit
And one to the ersthwile Henry Brunkard, 3rd Viscount:
http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp00588&rNo=0&role=sit
Here are some records from the British House of Commons on the brothers during the civil war.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/results.asp?query1=Brunkard&title=110
The following link pints to a short biography that fills out some additional information on the pair.
http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/bshm/zingaz/LondonPeopleA.html#brouncker
I am researching a biography of the three Viscount Brunkard’s at the moment that I will publish online at http://www.brunkard.com in time. Any additional information anyone can add to help in its composition is appreciated.