Colin Maclaurin

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Image:Colin maclaurin.jpg Colin Maclaurin (February, 1698 - June 14, 1746) was a Scottish mathematician.

He was born in Glendaruel, Argyll, where his father was the minister of the parish of Kilmodan, and attended the University of Glasgow at age eleven. Entering the University at eleven was not unusual at the time, but his graduating by successfully defending a thesis at 14 was. After graduation he remained at Glasgow to study divinity for a period and in 1717, aged nineteen, he became professor of mathematics at Marischal College in the University of Aberdeen.

In 1725 he was appointed deputy of the mathematical professor at Edinburgh, James Gregory (brother of David Gregory and nephew of the more famous James Gregory), upon the recommendation of Isaac Newton. Newton was so impressed his work, he actually offered to pay Maclaurin's salary. Eventually, Maclaurin went on to succeed Gregory.

The "Maclaurin series" for many trigonometric functions had in fact been first developed by Madhava of Sangamagrama in fourteenth century India. They were also developed and published by James Gregory, but Maclaurin wasn't aware of this and published them in Methodus incrementorum directa et inversa. Independently from Euler he discovered the "Euler-Maclaurin formula".

In 1733 he married Anne Stewart, the daughter of the Solicitor General of Scotland. He actively opposed the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 and assisted in the defence of Edinburgh but had to flee to York upon the approach of the Highlanders. He returned after the Jacobite army marched south, but the events had damaged his health, and led indirectly to his death.

Some of his important works: