Charles Tweedie

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(27 June 1868–14 September 1925) was a Scottish mathematician and mathematical historian.

Life

Tweedie was born in Swinton on 27 June 1868, the son of Charlotte Lugton (1836–1909) and George Tweedie (1837–1905) a schoolmaster originally from

Cleish Cleish is a rural hamlet off the B9097 between Crook of Devon and the M90 motorway, three miles south-west of Kinross in central Scotland. It lies in the historic county of Kinross-shire. At the last census (2011), the population of the civil ...

. He was from a large family, and his older brother, David Tweedie (b. 1865), was also a mathematician, who worked mainly in Egypt. He was educated at Swinton Parish School and then

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eight ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. He won the Sibbald Scholarship to study mathematics and physics at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. Here he was trusted enough by Professor George Chrystal to assist with the editing of Chrystal's textbook on

algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary a ...

. Tweedie graduated with an MA BSc with honours in 1890. He won the Bruce of Grangehill Bursary which allowed him to undertake postgraduate study at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

1890/91 and

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

1891/92. In the autumn of 1892 he became an assistant in the mathematics department at the University of Edinburgh under Professor Chrystal and became an official soon after, as Chrystal's right-hand man. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

in 1897. His proposers were George Chrystal, Peter Guthrie Tait, Cargill Gilston Knott and

John Sturgeon Mackay John Sturgeon Mackay FRSE LLD (1843–1914) was a Scottish mathematician and academic author. Life He was born on 22 October 1843 at Auchencairn near Kirkcudbright the son of John Mackay and his wife Jessie Sturgeon. The family moved to Perth ...

. He was President of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society 1903–1904. He died in

on 14 September 1925. He was unmarried and had no children.

Publications

*''A Study of the Life and Writings of Colin Maclaurin'' (1915) *''The Geometrica Organica of Colin Maclaurin'' (1916) *'' James Stirling: A Sketch of his Life and Work'' (1922) *''Notes on

James Gray James, Jim, or Jimmy Gray may refer to: Politicians * James Gray (Australian politician) (1820–1889), member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly * James Gray (British politician) (born 1954), British politician * James Gray (mayor) (1862–1916 ...

'' (1924)

References

1868 births 1925 deaths People from the Scottish Borders People educated at George Watson's College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Scottish mathematicians Scottish biographers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{UK-mathematician-stub