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ROBERT SMITH (1689-1768)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 268 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROBERT See also:SMITH (1689-1768)  , See also:English mathematician, was See also:born in 168g, probably at See also:Lea near See also:Gainsborough . After attending See also:Leicester See also:grammar school he entered Trinity See also:College, See also:Cam-See also:bridge, in 1708, and becoming See also:minor See also:fellow in 1714, See also:major fellow in 1715 and See also:senior fellow in 1739, was chosen See also:master in 1942, in See also:succession to See also:Richard See also:Bentley . From 1716 to 1760 he was Plumian See also:professor of See also:astronomy, and he died in the master's See also:lodge at Trinity on the end of See also:February 1768 . Besides editing two See also:works by his See also:cousin, See also:Roger See also:Cotes, who was his predecessor in the Plumian See also:chair, he published A Compleat See also:System of Opticks in 1738, which gained him the See also:sobriquet of " Old See also:Focus," and Harmonics, or the See also:Philosophy of Musical Sounds in 1749 . He was the founder of the See also:Smith's prizes at See also:Cambridge, having by his will See also:left £3500 See also:South See also:Sea, stock to the university, a portion of the See also:interest from which was to be divided yearly between the two junior B.A.'s who had made the greatest progress in See also:mathematics and natural philosophy .

End of Article: ROBERT SMITH (1689-1768)
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SIR HENRY GEORGE WAKELYN SMITH

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