Editing Robert Simson

{{Short description|Scottish mathematician (1687–1768)}}
{{About|the Scottish mathematician|other people with a similar name|Robert Simpson (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name             = Robert Simson
| image            = Robert Simson.jpg
| alt              =
| caption          = Robert Simson
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1687|10|14|df=y}}
| birth_place      = 
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1768|10|01|1687|10|14|df=y}}
| death_place      = His college residence at Glasgow
| resting_place    = [[Ramshorn Cemetery]]
| nationality      = British
| fields           = Mathematics, especially geometry
| workplaces       = [[University of Glasgow]]<br />[[Christ's Hospital]]
| patrons          = 
| education        = 
| alma_mater       = [[University of Glasgow]]
| notable_students = [[Colin Maclaurin|Maclaurin]]<br />[[Matthew Stewart (mathematician)|Matthew Stewart]]<br />[[William Trail]]<br />[[James Williamson (mathematician)]]
| known_for        = [[Simson line]]<br>[[Cassini and Catalan identities|Simson's identity]]
}}
[[File:Robert Simson memorial.jpg|thumb|Memorial to Robert Simson in [[West Kilbride]] cemetery. The memorial plate reads "''To Dr. Robert Simson of the University of Glasgow, the Restorer of Grecian Geometry; and by his works, the great promoter of its study in the Schools. A Native of this Parish.''"]]
'''Robert Simson''' (14 October 1687 – 1 October 1768) was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[mathematician]] and [[Professor of Mathematics, Glasgow|professor of mathematics]] at the [[University of Glasgow]]. The [[Simson line]] is named after him.<ref name=uni>[http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH0065&type=P Robert Simson]. University of Glasgow (multi-tab page)</ref>

==Biography==
Robert Simson was born on 14 October 1687,<ref name=Sneddon>{{cite web | last = Sneddon | first = Ian N. | title = Simon, Robert | website = Encyclopedia.com |url = https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/simson-robert | access-date = 27 April 2023}}</ref><ref>Tweddle gives the date as 18 October in {{Cite ODNB| https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/25606
|title= Simson, Robert}}</ref>  probably the eldest of the seventeen children, all male, of John Simson, a Glasgow merchant, and Agnes, daughter of Patrick Simpson, minister of Renfrew; only six of them reached adulthood.<ref>{{cite book | last = Simpson | first = Helen A | title = Early Records of Simpson Families in Scotland, North Ireland, and Eastern United States | location = Philadelphia | publisher = J. B. Lippincott Company I | page = | date = 1927  | url = https://www.seekingmyroots.com/members/files/G005748.pdf | access-date = 29 April 2023}}</ref>

Simson matriculated at the [[University of Glasgow]] in 1701, intending to enter the Church. He followed the course in the faculty of arts (Latin, Greek, logic, natural philosophy) and then concentrated on studying theology and Semitic languages.<ref name=Sneddon/> Mathematics was not taught at the university, but by reading [[George Sinclair (mathematician)|Sinclair's]] ''Tuyrocinia Mathematica in Novem Tractatus'' and then [[Euclid]]’s ''Elements'' Simson soon became deeply interested in mathematics and especially geometry. His efforts impressed the university Senate to such an extent that they offered him the chair of mathematics, to replace the recently-dismissed Sinclair. As he had had no formal training in the subject, Simson turned down the offer but agreed to take up the post a year later, during which time he would increase his knowledge of mathematics.

After a failed attempt to go to Oxford, Simson spent his year in London at [[Christ's Hospital]]. During this time he made valuable contacts with several prominent mathematicians, including [[John Caswell]], [[James Jurin]] (secretary of the Royal Society), [[Humphrey Ditton]] and, most importantly, [[Edmond Halley]].<ref name=Sneddon />

Simson was admitted professor of mathematics at Glasgow, aged 23, on 20 November 1711, where his first task was to design a two-year course in mathematics, some of which he taught himself; his lectures included geometry, of course, and algebra, logarithms and optics. Among his students were [[Colin Maclaurin|Maclaurin]], [[Matthew Stewart (mathematician)|Matthew Stewart]], and [[William Trail]]. He resigned the post in 1761, and was succeeded by another of his pupils [[James Williamson (mathematician)|Rev Prof James Williamson]] FRSE (1725-1795).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Extras/Glasgow_maths.html|title=Mathematics in Glasgow University in 1883}}</ref>

During his time at Glasgow Simson noted in 1753<ref>{{cite web | last = Rankin | first = R A | date = August 1995 | title = Robert Simson| website =  MacTutor | url = https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Simson | access-date = 1 May 2023}}</ref> that, as the Fibonacci numbers increased in magnitude, the ratio between adjacent numbers approached the [[golden ratio]], whose value is
{{bi|left=1.6|1=<math>\varphi = \frac{1+\sqrt5}{2} = </math>{{math|{{val|1.618033988749}}....}}}}

As for the man himself, “Simson appears to have been tall and of good stature. In spite of his great scholarship he was a modest, unassuming man who was very cautious in promoting his own work. He enjoyed good company and presided over the weekly meetings of a dining club that he had instituted … He had a special interest in botany, in which he was an acknowledged expert”.<ref name="Simson, Robert">{{Cite ODNB| https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/25606 |title= Simson, Robert}}</ref>

Robert Simson did not marry. He died, aged 80, in his college residence at Glasgow on 1 October 1768, and was interred in the Blackfriars Burying Ground (now known as [[Ramshorn Cemetery]]), where, in the south wall, is placed to his memory a plain marble tablet, with a highly and justly complimentary inscription”.<ref>{{cite news | title = Sketch of the life of Dr Robert Simson, of Glasgow | newspaper = The Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald | page = 3 | date = 4 February 1865}}</ref> Simson's library, including some of his own works, was bequeathed to the university on his death. It consists of about 850 printed books, mainly early mathematical and astronomical texts.<ref>{{cite web | title = Archives and Special Collections: Simson Collection | website = University of Glasgow | url = https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/archivespecialcollections/discover/specialcollectionsa-z/simsoncollection | access-date = 30 April 2023 }}</ref>

Subscriptions towards the erection of a monument to Dr Simson were collected in 1865, with the Senate of the College of Glasgow, the (thirteenth) [[Earl of Eglinton]] and Winton, and the [[Earl Stanhope]] each donating £10; and [[John Carrick Moore]] – the first cousin twice removed of Robert Simson – giving £15.<ref>{{cite news | title = Simson Monument | newspaper = The Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald | page =  | date = 4 October 1865}}</ref> The memorial, designed by [[Frederick Thomas Pilkington]], is “a large octagonal monument with carved Egyptian details, topped with a ball finial”.<ref>{{cite web| title = Robert Simson's Memorial | website = Ayrshire & Arran | url =  https://ayrshireandarran.com/professor-robert-simsons-memorial | access-date = 30 April 2023}}</ref> It is situated on a hilltop in [[West Kilbride]] cemetery.

==Works==
[[File:Simson - Opere, 1776 - 4704659.tif|thumb|''Opera quaedam reliqua'', 1776]]
Simson's contributions to mathematical knowledge took the form of critical editions and commentaries on the works of the ancient [[geometer]]s.<ref name="Simson, Robert"/>  The first of his published writings is a paper in the ''[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society|Philosophical Transactions]]'' (1723, vol. xl. p.&nbsp;330) on [[Euclid]]'s ''[[Porism]]s''.

Then followed ''Sectionum conicarum libri V.'' (Edinburgh, 1735), a second edition of which, with additions, appeared in 1750.  The first three books of this [[treatise]] were translated into English and, several times, printed as ''The Elements of the [[Conic section|Conic Sections]]''.  In 1749, was published ''Apollonii Pergaei locorum planorum libri II.'', a restoration of [[Apollonius of Perga|Apollonius]]'s lost treatise, founded on the [[lemma (mathematics)|lemma]]s given in the seventh book of [[Pappus of Alexandria|Pappus]]'s ''Mathematical Collection''.

In 1756, appeared, both in [[Latin]] and in English, the first edition of his ''[[Euclid's Elements]]''.  This work, which contained only the first six and the eleventh and twelfth books, and to which, in its English version, he added the ''[[Euclid's Data|Data]]'' in 1762, was for long the standard text of Euclid in England.

After Simson's death, restorations of Apollonius's treatise ''De section determinata'' and of Euclid's treatise ''De Porismatibus'' were printed for private circulation in 1776, at the expense of [[Earl Stanhope]], in a volume with the title ''Roberti Simson opera quaedam reliqua''.  The volume contains also dissertations on ''[[Logarithms]]'' and on the ''Limits of Quantities and Ratios'', and a few problems illustrating the ancient geometrical analysis.<ref>{{cite book | title = Opera quaedam reliqua etc. | last1 = Simson | first1 = Robert | last2 = Clow | first2 = James | location = Glasguae| publisher = Andreas Foulis | date = | url = https://catalog.lindahall.org/discovery/delivery/01LINDAHALL_INST:LHL/1290366960005961 |access-date = 1 May 2023}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[William Trail]] (1812) {{Google books|HMQEAAAAYAAJ|Life and Writings of Robert Simson}}
* [[Charles Hutton]] (1815) ''Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary'', volume II, p.&nbsp;395-398 ({{Google books|lsdJAAAAMAAJ|online copy|page=395}})

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* Robert Simson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ec42AAAAMAAJ& ''The Elements of Euclid'']... ''Errors Corrected... also The Book of Euclid's Data... Corrected'' 12th ed. (1804)
* [http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Simson.html Robert Simson's biography at MacTutor archive.] Contains information about Simson's personality, and describes an incident when he was shot in the face.
* [http://www.cut-the-knot.org/ctk/SimsonLine.shtml Simson's line] from [[Cut-the-Knot]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDhZGBmcGGo A Scottish sundial erected by Robert Simson at Kirktonhall, West Kilbride.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-0YoMdUKZE The Memorial to Robert Simson in West Kilbride]
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simson, Robert}}
[[Category:1687 births]]
[[Category:1768 deaths]]
[[Category:People from West Kilbride]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Glasgow]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish mathematicians]]
[[Category:Euclid]]