John Colson
English clergyman and mathematician (1680-1760)
John Colson FRS (1680, 20 January 1760) was an English clergyman, mathematician, and the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University.
01Life
John Colson was educated at Lichfield School before becoming an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford, though he did not complete a degree there. He became a schoolmaster at Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School in Rochester, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1713. He was Vicar of Chalk, Kent from 1724 to 1740. He relocated to Cambridge and lectured at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. From 1739 to 1760, he was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. He was also Rector of Lockington, Yorkshire.
02Works
In 1726 he published his "Negativo-Affirmativo Arithmetik", which advocated a modified decimal system of numeration. He proposed "reduction [to] small figures" by "throwing all the large figures 
John Colson translated several of Isaac Newton's works into English, including De Methodis Serierum et Fluxionum in 1736.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “John Colson”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- John Colson by John Wollaston.jpg by John Wollaston the Younger, Public domain
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.
