George Atwood ( – 11 July 1807) was an English

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

who invented the

Atwood machine The Atwood machine (or Atwood's machine) was invented in 1784 by the English mathematician George Atwood as a laboratory experiment to verify the mechanical laws of motion with constant acceleration. Atwood's machine is a common classroom demons ...

for illustrating the effects of

Newton's laws of motion Newton's laws of motion are three basic laws of classical mechanics that describe the relationship between the motion of an object and the forces acting on it. These laws can be paraphrased as follows: # A body remains at rest, or in moti ...

. He was also a renowned

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player whose skill for recording many games of his own and of other players, including

François-André Danican Philidor François-André Danican Philidor (7 September 1726 – 31 August 1795), often referred to as André Danican Philidor during his lifetime, was a French composer and chess player. He contributed to the early development of the ''opéra comique''. ...

, the leading master of his time, left a valuable historical record for future generations. Atwood was born in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

, with the date remaining unknown, but presumed to have been shortly before his baptism on 15 October 1745. He attended

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, and in 1765, was admitted to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. He graduated in 1769, with the rank of third wrangler and was awarded the inaugural first Smith's Prize. Subsequently, he became a fellow and a tutor of the college. In 1776, he was elected a fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. In 1784, he left Cambridge and soon afterwards received from

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...

the office of patent searcher of the customs, which required but little attendance, enabling him to devote a considerable portion of his time to mathematics and physics. Atwood died unmarried in

at the age of 61, and was buried there at St. Margaret's Church. Over a century later, a

lunar crater Lunar craters are impact craters on Earth's Moon. The Moon's surface has many craters, all of which were formed by impacts. The International Astronomical Union currently recognizes 9,137 craters, of which 1,675 have been dated. History The wor ...

was renamed Atwood in his honour.

Selected publications

Atwood's published works, exclusive of papers contributed to the Philosophical Transactions, for one of which he obtained the

Copley Medal The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society, for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science". It alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences. Given every year, the medal is t ...

, are as follows: * * ''Analysis of a Course of Lectures on the Principles of Natural Philosophy'' (Cambridge, 1784).
''Treatise on the Rectilinear Motion and Rotation of Bodies''
(Cambridge, 1784), which gives some interesting experiments, by means of which mechanical truths can be ocularly exhibited and demonstrated, and describes the machine, since named after Atwood, for verifying experimentally the laws of simple acceleration of motion. * ''Review of the Statutes and Ordinances of

Assize The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

which have been established in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

from the 4th year of King John, 1202, to the 37th of his present Majesty'' (London, 1801), a work of some historical research. * ''Dissertation on the Construction and Properties of Arches'' (London, 1801). * Chess games recorded by Atwood were published posthumously by George Walker in London in 1835, under the name ''Selection of Games at Chess, actually played by Philidor and his Contemporaries''. Atwood was one of a few masters that could beat Verdoni on occasion.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atwood, George 1745 births 1807 deaths English inventors People from Westminster British chess players Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society People educated at Westminster School, London Recipients of the Copley Medal 18th-century English people 18th-century English mathematicians 19th-century English mathematicians 19th-century chess players