SAUNDERSON, or

See also:

• SANDERSON, ROBERT (1587-1663)

SANDERSON,

See also:

• NICHOLAS
• NICHOLAS (1841– )
• NICHOLAS (or NICLAES), HENRY (or HENDRIK) (c. 1501-C. 158o)
• NICHOLAS, SIR EDWARD (1593-1669)
• NICHOLAS, ST

NICHOLAS (1682-1739)  , English mathematician, was born at Thurlstone, Yorkshire, in January 1682 . When about a year old he lost his sight through smallpox; but this did not prevent him from acquiring a know-ledge of Latin and Greek, and studying mathematics . In 1707 he began lecturing at Cambridge on the principles of the Newtonian philosophy, and in November 1711 he succeeded William Whiston, the Lucasian professor of mathematics in Cambridge . He was created doctor of laws in 1728 by command of George II., and in 1736 was admitted a member of the Royal Society . He died of scurvy, on the 19th of April 1739 . Saunderson possessed the friendship of many of the eminent mathematicians of the time, such as Sir Isaac Newton, Edmund Halley, Abraham De Moivre and Roger Cotes . His senses of hearing and touch were extraordinarily acute, and he could carry on mentally long and intricate mathematical calculations . He devised a calculating machine or abacus, by which he could perform arithmetical and algebraical operations by the sense of touch; this method is sometimes termed his palpable arithmetic, an account of which is given in his elaborate Elements of Algebra (2 vols., Cambridge, 174o) . Of his other writings, prepared for the use of his pupils, the only one which has been published is The Method of Fluxions (1 vol., Lon-don, 1756) . At the end of this treatise there is given, in Latin, an explanation of the principal propositions of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy .