David Gibb

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 ...

(31 October 1883 – 28 March 1946) was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer. He was the first person to use the term '' numerical integration''.

Life

Gibb was born in

Methil Methil (Scottish Gaelic: Meadhchill) is an eastern coastal town in Scotland. It was first recorded as "Methkil" in 1207, and belonged to the Bishop of St Andrews. Two Bronze Age cemeteries have been discovered which date the settlement as ov ...

near Leven, Fife on 31 October 1883, the eldest son of Robert Gibb, a salt manufacturer, and his wife Joanna. He attended Leven Public School then

George Watsons College George Watson's College is a co-educational independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a hospital school in 1741, became a day school in 1871, and was merge ...

in Edinburgh (1896–99). He studied mathematics and sciences at the University of Edinburgh graduating in 1906 with a MA/BSc. While a student he lodged with a Mr Flockhart at 3 West Preston Street, Edinburgh. In 1909 he began lecturing in mathematics at the University. In 1910 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 ...

for his contributions to mathematics and astronomy. His proposers were George Chrystal, Sir Frank Watson Dyson, Cargill Gilston Knott and

Ellice Horsburgh Dr Ellice Martin Horsburgh FRSE AMICE (1870 – 28 December 1935) was a Scottish mathematician and engineer. He was an expert on numismatics and a skilled photographer. Life He was born in Kelso in 1870, the son of Ellen Sarah Vost and the Re ...

. During the First World War he worked on the Ballistic Department Ordnance Committee at the

Royal Arsenal The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich is an establishment on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England, that was used for the manufacture of armaments and ammunition, proofing, and explosives research for the Britis ...

in Woolwich, remotely calculating complex gun angles to fire on hidden or obscured targets, such as at the Gallipoli peninsula. He returned to the University of Edinburgh after the war. From 1920 he was President of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society. In 1934 he was promoted to Reader in Mathematics and remained in this role until his death in 1946. He died in Edinburgh on 28 March 1946.The Scotsman (newspaper) 30 March 1946

Publications

*''A Course in Interpolation and Numeric Integration for the Mathematical Laboratory'' (1915)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibb, David 1883 births 1946 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People from Methil Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Scottish mathematicians Scottish astronomers