The Spitalfields Mathematical Society was founded in 1717 by Joseph Middleton.[1] The society had 64 members when it was established, and at first meetings were held in the Monmouth's Head, a public house in the Spitalfields district of London.[2][3] Fellows of the society were drawn from artisans and craftsmen such as weavers, apothecaries, brewers, ironmongers, stockbrokers, and makers of optical and mathematical instruments. Well-known members included John Canton, John Dollond, Thomas Simpson, John Crosley, John Tatum, Francis Baily, and Benjamin Gompertz.[4]
It merged with the Royal Astronomical Society in 1846.[1]
The name lives on in the "Spitalfields Days" organised by, among others, the Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge, Mathematics Research Centre, Warwick, and International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Edinburgh.[5]
References edit
- ^ a b Sampson, R. A. (1923). "The Decade 1840–1850". In Dreyer, J. L. E.; Turner, H. H. (eds.). History of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1820–1920. London, United Kingdom: Royal Astronomical Society. pp. 99–104. ISBN 0-632-02173-X.
- ^ Stewart, Larry; Weindling, Paul (1995). "Philosophical threads: natural philosophy and public experiment among the weavers of Spitalfields". British Journal for the History of Science. 28: 40.
- ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. "The Spitalfields Mathematical Society". Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ^ Stewart, Larry; Weindling, Paul (1995). "Philosophical threads: natural philosophy and public experiment among the weavers of Spitalfields". British Journal for the History of Science. 28: 41–2.
- ^ "Spitalfields Days". London Mathematical Society. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- http://www.mernick.org.uk/thhol/mathematical.html
- http://technicaleducationmatters.org/2009/05/14/the-spitalfields-mathematical-society-1717-to-1846/
- Cawthorne. H.H. ‘The Spitalfields Mathematical Society’. (1717 – 1845). Journal of Adult Education. Vol. 111. No. 2. (April 1929). Cassels.
- J.W.S. ‘The Spitalfields Mathematical Society’ Bulletin of LMS. 11 p. 241 – 258. 1979.