MACLAURIN, Colin, an eminent mathematician, youngest son of the Reverend John MacLaurin minister of Glenderule, author of an Irish version of the Psalms, was born in the parish of Kilmodan, Argyleshire, in February 1698.  Having lost his father in infancy, and his mother before he was nine years old, he was educated under the care of his uncle, the Reverend Daniel MacLaurin, minister of Kilfinnan.  He was sent to the university of Glasgow in 1709, and took the degree of MA in his fifteenth year, on which occasion he composed and defended a thesis on "The Power of Gravity."  In 1717, after a competition which lasted for ten days, he was elected professor of mathematics in the Marischall college, Aberdeen.  In the vacations of 1719 and 1721 he went to London, where he became acquainted with Sir Isaac Newton, Dr.  Hoadley, Dr.  Samuel Clarke, Mr. Martin Folkes, and other eminent philosophers, and was admitted a member of the Royal Society.  In 1722, having provided a competent person to attend to his class for a time at Aberdeen, he travelled on the Continent as tutor to the Hon. Mr. Hume, son of Lord Polwarth; and during their residence at Lorraine, he wrote his essay on the Percussion of Bodies, which gained the prize of the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1724.  On the death of his pupil at Montpelier he returned to Aberdeen; and in 1725 he was chosen to succeed Mr. James Gregory as professor of mathematics at Edinburgh, where his lectures, commenced November 3 of that year, contributed much to raise the character of that university as a school of science.  In 1733 he married Ann, daughter of Mr. Walter Stewart, at that time solicitor-general for Scotland, by whom he had seven children.  A controversy with Bishop Berkeley led to the publication, in 1742, of his greatest work, the "Treatise on Fluxions," in 2 vols. 4to.

In 1745, having been very active in making plans, and superintending the operations necessary for the defence of the city of Edinburgh against the Highland army, Mr. MacLaurin was, upon their entering the city, obliged to withdraw to the north of England, when he was invited by the archbishop of York to reside with him.  On his journey southward he had a fall from his horse, and the fatigue, anxiety, and cold to which he was exposed on this occasion, laid the foundation of a dropsy, of which he died soon after his return to Edinburgh, June 14, 1746.  His portrait, from an engraving in Smiths Iconographia Scotica, is subjoined.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Below is the inscription on one of a group of seven or eight commemorative tablets high up on the outside wall at the south-west corner of Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh. Text and translation kindly provided by Mr. Bert Hutchings. To visit the Kirk web-site please follow this Greyfriars link.

“Infra situs est COLIN MACLAURIN Mathes. olim in Acad. Edin. Prof.  Electus ipso Newtono suadente.  H.L.P.F.  Non ut nomini paterno consulat Nam tali auxilio nil eget.  Sed ut in hoc infelici campo Ubi Luctus regnant et Pavor Mortalibus prorsus non absit Solatium: Huius enim scripta evolve Mentemque tantarum rerum capacem Corpori caduco superstitem crede.”

“Beneath here lies COLIN MACLAURIN, formerly Professor of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh, having been elected on the advice of Newton himself.  This stone was erected by his son, not that he might provide for his father’s reputation, which stands in no need of such aid, but that mortals might not be altogether without consolation in this sad place, where grief and fear hold sway; for you have but to examine his writings, and you must believe that a mind capable of such lofty efforts must survive the frail body.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

His works are.

Piece qui a remporte le Prix de L'Academie Royale des Sciences proposé pour l'anné e mill sept cens vingt-quatre, selon la Foundatione fait par feu M. Rouille de Morlay, Ancien Conseiller au Parlément de Paris.  Par. 1724, 4to.

A complete System of Fluxions; with their application to the most considerable Problems in Geometry and Natural Philosophy.  Edin. 1742, 2 vols. 4to.

Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries published from his MS. papers; with An Account of the Life and Writings of the Author, by Pat. Murdoch.  Lond., 1748, 4to.

Treatise of Algebra, in three Parts.  To which is added, An Appendix concerning the General Properties of Geometrical Lines.  Lond., 1748, 8vo. 1766, 8vo.

On the Construction and Measure of Curves; by which many infinite series of Curves are either Measured or reduced to Simple Curves.  Phil. Trans. Abr. vi. 356. 1718.

A New Universal Method of describing all kinds of Curves by means of Right Lines and Angles only.  Ib. 392.  1719.

Concerning Equations with impossible Roots.  Ib. Abr. vii. 145. 1726.

On the Description of Curved Lines.  Ib. viii. 41. 1735.

Rule for finding the Meridional Parts to any Spheroid, with the same exactness as in a Sphere.  Ib. 515. 1741.

On the Basis of the Cells where the Bees deposit their Honey.  Ib. 709. 1743.

Cause of the Variation of the Obliquity of the Ecliptic.  Ess.  Phys.  and Lit.  i.  174. 1754.

Concerning the sudden and surprising Changes observed on the Surface of Jupiter's Body.  Ib. 184.

BACK TO CLAN PAGE