Colin Maclaurin (February, 1698 – 14 June 1746) was a British mathematician. Due to changes in orthography since that time (his name was originally rendered as e.g. "M'Laurine"), his surname is alternatively written MacLaurin. In Gaelic the name is "Cailean MacLabhruinn", which is literally 'Colin, the son of Laurence.'
Maclaurin was born in Kilmodan, Argyll. His father, Reverend and Minister of Glendaruel John Maclaurin, died when Maclaurin was ...
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Colin Maclaurin (February, 1698 – 14 June 1746) was a British mathematician. Due to changes in orthography since that time (his name was originally rendered as e.g. "M'Laurine"), his surname is alternatively written MacLaurin. In Gaelic the name is "Cailean MacLabhruinn", which is literally 'Colin, the son of Laurence.'
Maclaurin was born in Kilmodan, Argyll. His father, Reverend and Minister of Glendaruel John Maclaurin, died when Maclaurin was in infancy, and his mother before he reached nine years of age. He was then educated under the care of his uncle, the Reverend Daniel Maclaurin, minister of Kilfinnan.
At eleven, Maclaurin entered the University of Glasgow. He would graduate MA three years later by defending a thesis on the Power of Gravity, and remain at Glasgow to study divinity until 1717, when he was elected professor of mathematics in a ten-day competition at the Marischal College in the University of Aberdeen. He would hold the record as the world's youngest professor...
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