John Pell (1 March 1611 – 12 December 1685) 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 ...
and political agent abroad.
Early life
He was born at
Southwick in
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
. His father, also named John Pell, was from Southwick, and his mother was Mary Holland, from Halden in Kent. The second of two sons, Pell's older brother was
Thomas Pell
Thomas Pell, 1st Lord of Pelham Manor (1608 – September 21, 1669) was an English-born physician who bought the area known as Pelham, New York, as well as land that now includes the eastern Bronx and southern Westchester County, New York, and foun ...
. By the time he was six, they were orphans, their father dying in 1616 and their mother the following year. John Pell the elder had a fine library, which proved valuable to the young Pell as he grew up. He was educated at
Steyning Grammar School and entered
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 ...
, at the age of 13. During his university career he became an accomplished linguist; even before taking a B.A. degree in 1629, he corresponded with
Henry Briggs Henry Briggs may refer to:
*Henry Briggs (mathematician) (1561–1630), English mathematician
*Henry Perronet Briggs (1793–1844), English painter
*Henry George Briggs (1824–1872), English merchant, traveller, and orientalist
*Henry Shaw Briggs ...
and other mathematicians. He was promoted by seniority to M.A. in 1630 and taught in the short-lived Chichester Academy set up by
Samuel Hartlib
Samuel Hartlib or Hartlieb (c. 1600 – 10 March 1662)
M. Greengrass, "Hartlib, Samuel (c. 1600–1662)", ''Oxford D ...
.
On 3 July 1632 he married Ithamaria Reginald (also rendered as Ithamara or Ithumaria, with the surname Reginolles), sister of the writer and polymath
Bathsua Makin
Bathsua Reginald Makin (; 1600 – c. 1675) was a teacher who contributed to the emerging criticism of woman's position in the domestic and public spheres in 17th-century England. Herself a highly educated woman, Makin was referred to as Englan ...
. They had four sons and four daughters. Ithumaria died in 1661. Some time before 1669 Pell remarried.
Pell spent much of the 1630s working under Hartlib's influence, on topics in the area of
pedagogy
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...
, encyclopedism and
pansophy Pansophism, in older usage often pansophy, is a concept in the educational system of universal knowledge proposed by John Amos Comenius, a Czech educator. " omenius'ssecond great interest was in furthering the Baconian attempt at the organization o ...
,
combinatorics
Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and an end in obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many appl ...
, and the legacy of
Trithemius
Johannes Trithemius (; 1 February 1462 – 13 December 1516), born Johann Heidenberg, was a German Benedictine abbot and a polymath who was active in the German Renaissance as a lexicographer, chronicler, cryptographer, and occultist. He is consi ...
. By 1638 he had formulated a proposal for a
universal language
Universal language may refer to a hypothetical or historical language spoken and understood by all or most of the world's people. In some contexts, it refers to a means of communication said to be understood by all humans. It may be the idea of ...
. In mathematics, he concentrated on expanding the scope of algebra in the
theory of equations
In algebra, the theory of equations is the study of algebraic equations (also called "polynomial equations"), which are equations defined by a polynomial. The main problem of the theory of equations was to know when an algebraic equation has an ...
, and on
mathematical tables.
[Malcolm and Stedall, p. 57.] As part of a joint lobbying effort with Hartlib to find himself support to continue as a researcher, he had his short ''Idea of Mathematics'' printed in October 1638.
It brought interested responses from
Johann Moriaen Johann Moriaen (born Nuremberg c.1591-1668) was a German alchemist and early chemist, known as an associate of Samuel Hartlib. He was active in recruiting for Hartlib's network of intellectuals, the Hartlib Circle, and communicating with them. He w ...
and
Marin Mersenne.
Academic and diplomat
His reputation and the influence of Sir
William Boswell
Sir William Boswell (died 1650) was an English diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1624 and 1625. He was a resident ambassador to the Netherlands from 1632 to 1649.
Life
William Boswell was a native of Suffolk. He was ed ...
, the English resident, with the States-General procured his election in 1644 to the chair of mathematics in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, after an earlier attempt immediately after
Martin van den Hove
Martin (Maarten) van den Hove (Latinized as Martinus Hortensius (Ortensius)) (1605 – 7 August 1639) was a Dutch astronomer and mathematician. His adopted Latin name is a translation of the Dutch ''hof'' ("garden"), in Latin ''horta''.
Early li ...
left for Leiden had failed. From 1644 he worked on a polemical work, against
Longomontanus. For this he put in a large effort soliciting help and testimonials: from
Bonaventura Cavalieri
Bonaventura Francesco Cavalieri ( la, Bonaventura Cavalerius; 1598 – 30 November 1647) was an Italian mathematician and a Jesuate. He is known for his work on the problems of optics and motion, work on indivisibles, the precursors of in ...
, his patron
Sir Charles Cavendish
Sir Charles Cavendish (13 Aug 15914 Feb 1653) was an English aristocrat, Member of Parliament for Nottingham, and patron.
Described as 'a little, weak, crooked man’ by John Aubrey, he studied mathematics himself, as well as supporting others ...
,
René Descartes
René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathem ...
,
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influent ...
, Mersenne,
Claude Mydorge
Claude Mydorge (1585 – July 1647) was a French mathematician. His primary contributions were in geometry and physics.
Mydorge served on a scientific committee (whose members included Pierre Hérigone and Étienne Pascal) set up to determine ...
, and
Gilles de Roberval
Gilles Personne de Roberval (August 10, 1602 – October 27, 1675), French mathematician, was born at Roberval near Beauvais, France. His name was originally Gilles Personne or Gilles Personier, with Roberval the place of his birth.
Biography ...
. It finally appeared as ''Controversy with Longomontanus concerning the Quadrature of the Circle'' (1647).
[ Andrew Pyle (editor), ''Dictionary of Seventeenth-Century British Philosophers'' (2000), article ''Pell, John'', pp. 638–641.]
In 1646, on the invitation of
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange
Frederick Henry ( nl, Frederik Hendrik; 29 January 1584 – 14 March 1647) was the sovereign prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 1625 until his death in 1647. In the last ...
, Pell accepted a professorship at the new
Orange College at
Breda
Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...
, where he taught until 1652. He realised that war between the English and the Dutch was imminent and that he would be in an extremely difficult position in Breda, so returned to England before the outbreak of the
First Anglo-Dutch War
The First Anglo-Dutch War, or simply the First Dutch War, ( nl, Eerste Engelse (zee-)oorlog, "First English (Sea) War"; 1652–1654) was a conflict fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic, ...
in July 1652. After his return,
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
appointed Pell to a post teaching mathematics in London.
From 1654 to 1658 Pell acted as Cromwell's political agent in
Zurich to the
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland (german: Kanton; french: canton ; it, cantone; Sursilvan and Surmiran: ; Vallader and Puter: ; Sutsilvan: ; Rumantsch Grischun: ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Con ...
; he cooperated with
Samuel Morland
Sir Samuel Morland, 1st Baronet (1625 – 30 December 1695), or Moreland, was an English academic, diplomat, spy, inventor and mathematician of the 17th century, a polymath credited with early developments in relation to computing, hydraulics a ...
, the English resident at
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
. Pell was described in Zurich by the English traveller
Sir John Reresby in about 1656 as "a strange unknown person, not unsuiting the people he was sent to, nor the master
romwellhe came from. They are here so strict in their religion, they suffer not the Venetian ambassador to hear mass in his own house." Cromwell wanted to split the Protestant cantons of Switzerland off to join a Protestant League, with England at its head. However Pell's negotiations were long drawn out and he returned to England to deliver his report only shortly before Cromwell's death. He was unable to report as he waited in vain for an audience with the ailing Cromwell.
A mathematical pupil and disciple in Switzerland, from 1657, was
Johann Heinrich Rahn
Johann Rahn (Latinised form Rhonius) (10 March 1622 – 25 May 1676) was a Swiss mathematician who is credited with the first use of the division sign, ÷ (a repurposed obelus variant) and the therefore sign, ∴. The symbols were used in ''Teu ...
, known as Rhonius. Rahn is credited with the invention of the
division sign
The division sign () is a symbol consisting of a short horizontal line with a dot above and another dot below, used in Anglophone countries to indicate mathematical division. However, this usage, though widespread in some countries, is not u ...
() from one of the classic symbols for
Obelus
An obelus (plural: obeluses or obeli) is a term in typography that refers to a historical mark which has resolved to three modern meanings:
* Division sign
* Dagger
* Commercial minus sign (limited geographical area of use)
The word "obel ...
; it has also been attributed to Pell, who taught Rahn a three-column spreadsheet-style technique of tabulation of calculations, and acted as editor for Rahn's 1659 book ''Teutsche Algebra'' in which it appeared. This book by Rahn also contained what would become known as the "Pell equation".
Diophantine equations was a favourite subject with Pell; he lectured on them at Amsterdam. He is now best remembered, if perhaps erroneously, for the indeterminate equation
:
which is known as ''
Pell's equation
Pell's equation, also called the Pell–Fermat equation, is any Diophantine equation of the form x^2 - ny^2 = 1, where ''n'' is a given positive nonsquare integer, and integer solutions are sought for ''x'' and ''y''. In Cartesian coordinates, ...
''. This problem was in fact proposed by
Pierre de Fermat
Pierre de Fermat (; between 31 October and 6 December 1607 – 12 January 1665) was a French mathematician who is given credit for early developments that led to infinitesimal calculus, including his technique of adequality. In particular, he ...
first to
Bernard Frénicle de Bessy
Bernard Frénicle de Bessy (c. 1604 – 1674), was a French mathematician born in Paris, who wrote numerous mathematical papers, mainly in number theory and combinatorics. He is best remembered for , a treatise on magic squares published posth ...
, and in 1657 to all mathematicians. Pell's connection with the problem is through Rahn. It consisted of publication of the solutions of
John Wallis and
Lord Brouncker
William Brouncker, 2nd Viscount Brouncker, Fellow of the Royal Society, PRS (1620 – 5 April 1684) was an Irish born mathematician who introduced Brouncker's formula, and was the first president of the Royal Society. He was also a civil serv ...
in his edition of
Thomas Branker
Thomas Branker (Brancker) (1633–1676) was an English mathematician.
Life
He was born at Barnstaple in August 1633, the son of another Thomas Brancker, a graduate of Exeter College, Oxford, who was in 1626 a schoolmaster near Ilchester, and abou ...
's ''Translation of Rhonius's Algebra'' (1668); added to his earlier editorial contributions, whatever they were, to the 1659 algebra book written by Rahn (i.e. Rhonius).
This new edition by Pell of what was essentially Rahn's work included a great deal of additional material on
number theory
Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777 ...
, amounting to a reply to the 1657 book ''Exercitationes mathematicae'' by
Frans van Schooten. It is also notable for its inclusion of a ''Table of Incomposits'', an early large
factor table
In number theory, integer factorization is the decomposition of a composite number into a product of smaller integers. If these factors are further restricted to prime numbers, the process is called prime factorization.
When the numbers are suf ...
.
After the Restoration
After his return to England Pell took orders and in 1661 became rector of
Fobbing
Fobbing is a small village and former civil parish in Thurrock, Essex, England and one of Thurrock's traditional (Church of England) parishes. It is located between Basildon and Corringham, and is also close to Stanford-le-Hope. In 1931 the pa ...
in
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
. In 1663 he was given an honorary D. D. (
Lambeth degree
A Lambeth degree is an academic degree conferred by the Archbishop of Canterbury under the authority of the Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533 (25 Hen VIII c 21) (Eng) as successor of the papal legate in England. The degrees conferred most commonl ...
) and was also elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
. At the same time he was presented by Bishop
Gilbert Sheldon
Gilbert Sheldon (19 June 1598 – 9 November 1677) was an English religious leader who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1663 until his death.
Early life
Sheldon was born in Stanton, Staffordshire in the parish of Ellastone, on 19 J ...
to the rectory of
Laindon
Laindon is a commuter town in Essex, between Basildon and West Horndon. It was an ancient parish in Essex, England, that was abolished for civil purposes in 1937. It was based on the (probably smaller) manor of the same name and now lies mostly ...
, Essex; Sheldon expected him to treat the positions as sinecures.
[ He spent time visiting ]William Brereton, 3rd Baron Brereton
William Brereton, 3rd Baron Brereton FRS (4 May 1631 – 17 March 1680) was an English mathematician and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1659 and became Baron Brereton in the Irish peerage in 1664. He was chairman of the Committee o ...
, at Brereton Hall
Brereton Hall is an Elizabethan prodigy house north of Brereton Green, next to St Oswald's Church in the civil parish of Brereton, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I liste ...
, having taught him mathematics at Breda, and after Brereton died in 1680 John Aubrey
John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the '' Brief Lives'', his collection of short biographical pieces. He was a pioneer archaeologist ...
reported a very close friendship between the two men.
In 1673 Pell met Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of ma ...
in London, and was able to inform him that some of his mathematical work had been anticipated by François Regnaud and Gabriel Mouton
Gabriel Mouton (1618 – 28 September 1694) was a French abbot and scientist. He was a doctor of theology from Lyon, but was also interested in mathematics and astronomy. His 1670 book, the ''Observationes diametrorum solis et lunae apparenti ...
. His devotion to mathematics seems to have interfered with his advancement in the Church and with his private life. For a time he was confined as a debtor
A debtor or debitor is a legal entity (legal person) that owes a debt to another entity. The entity may be an individual, a firm, a government, a company or other legal person. The counterparty is called a creditor. When the counterpart of this ...
in the King's Bench Prison
The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were hea ...
. He lived, on the invitation of Dr Daniel Whistler, for a short time in 1682 at the College of Physicians A college of physicians is a national or provincial organisation concerned with the practice of medicine.
{{Expand list, date=February 2011
Such institutions include:
* American College of Physicians
* Ceylon College of Physicians
* College of Phy ...
, but died at the house of Mr Cothorne, reader of the church of St Giles-in-the Fields.
Works
Many of Pell's manuscripts fell into the hands of Richard Busby
Richard Busby (; 22 September 1606 – 6 April 1695) was an English Anglican priest who served as head master of Westminster School for more than fifty-five years. Among the more illustrious of his pupils were Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, Rob ...
, master of 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 afterwards came into the possession of the Royal Society
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 ...
; they are still preserved in nearly forty folio volumes in the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
, which contain, not only Pell's own memoirs, but much of his correspondence with the mathematicians of his time.
His chief works are:
*''Astronomical History of Observations of Heavenly Motions and Appearances'' (1634)
*''Ecliptica prognostica'' (1634)
*''An Idea of Mathematicks'' (1638)
*''Controversy with Longomontanus concerning the Quadrature of the Circle'' (1646?)
*''A Table of Ten Thousand Square Numbers'' (fol.; 1672).
The ''Idea'' was a short manifesto. It made three suggestions: a mathematical encyclopedia and bibliography; a complete mathematics research library and collection of instruments, with state sponsorship; and a three-volume comprehensive set of mathematical textbooks, able to convey the state of the art to any scholar.
Family
John Pell's brother, Thomas Pell
Thomas Pell, 1st Lord of Pelham Manor (1608 – September 21, 1669) was an English-born physician who bought the area known as Pelham, New York, as well as land that now includes the eastern Bronx and southern Westchester County, New York, and foun ...
(1612/3–1669) was a physician who emigrated to New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
in the 1630s. In 1654, Thomas Pell signed a treaty with Chief Wampage
Wampage I (), also called Anhōōke and later John White, was a Sagamore (or chieftain) of the Siwanoy Native Americans, who resided in the area now known as the Bronx and Westchester County, New York. He was involved in the murder of Anne Hutc ...
and other Siwanoy
The Siwanoy () were an Indigenous American band of Wappinger people, who lived in Long Island Sound along the coasts of what are now The Bronx, Westchester County, New York, and Fairfield County, Connecticut. They were one of the western bands of ...
Indian tribal members that granted him of tribal land, including all or part of the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
and land to the west along Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...
in what is now Westchester County, extending west to the Hutchinson River
The Hutchinson River is a freshwater stream located in the Bronx, and Southern Westchester County, New York. The river forms in Scarsdale at Brookline Road and flows 10 miles (16 km) south until it empties into Eastchester Bay in ...
and north to Mamaroneck
Mamaroneck ( ) is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States.
The population was 31,758 at the 2020 United States census over 29,156 at the 2010 census. There are two villages contained within the town: Larchmont and the Village of M ...
. Having no children, he left his estate to his nephew Sir John Pell
Sir John Pell IV, 2nd Lord of Pelham Manor (February 3, 1643 – ) was a British-born American landowner who owned Pelham, New York, as well as land that now includes the eastern Bronx and southern Westchester County, New York.
Early life
Pell w ...
(1643–1702), one of the mathematician's four sons, who travelled from England to New York and took up residence there as the first Lord of the Manor
Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
of Pelham. His descendants have continued to be prominent in American polity, including Ambassador and U.S. Representative Herbert Pell
Herbert Claiborne Pell Jr. (February 16, 1884 – July 17, 1961) was a United States representative from New York, U.S. Minister to Portugal, U.S. Minister to Hungary, and a creator and member of the United Nations War Crimes Commission.
A ...
and U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell
Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was an American politician and writer who served as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island for six terms from 1961 to 1997. He was the sponsor of the 1972 bill that reformed the Basic ...
. Philip Pell II built Pelhamdale
Pelhamdale, also known as The Old Stone House of Philip Pell II, is a historic home located in Pelham Manor, Westchester County, New York. It was built about 1750 as a single story dwelling and expanded after 1823. It is a two-story, five bay, s ...
at Pelham Manor, New York
Pelham Manor is an affluent village located in Westchester County, New York. As of the 2020 census, the village had a total population of 5,752. It is located in the town of Pelham.
History
The Bolton Priory, Edgewood House, and Pelhamdale a ...
about 1750, and another descendant, Stephen Hyatt Pell, restored Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain, in northern New York, in the United States. It was constructed by Canadian-born French milit ...
, New York in 1909 and formally opened it to the public. ( William Ferris Pell had bought the Fort and surrounding lands in 1820, and used the property as a summer retreat.)
Yet another of John Pell's American descendants, Morris Birkbeck Pell
Morris Birkbeck Pell (31 March 1827 – 7 May 1879) was an American-Australian mathematician, professor, lawyer and actuary. He became the inaugural Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at the University of Sydney in 1852, and conti ...
, graduated as senior wrangler
The Senior Frog Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain."
Specifically, it is the person who a ...
in mathematics at Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
in 1849 and emigrated to Australia in 1852 to become the first professor of mathematics and natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior throu ...
at the newly inaugurated University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
.
See also
*
*
Notes
References
*
*
*The most recent study of Pell is by Noel Malcolm
Sir Noel Robert Malcolm, (born 26 December 1956) is an English political journalist, historian and academic. A King's Scholar at Eton College, Malcolm read history at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and received his doctorate in history from Trinity Col ...
and Jacqueline Stedall, ''John Pell (1611–1685) and His Correspondence with Sir Charles Cavendish: The Mental World of an Early Modern Mathematician'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
External links
*
Galileo Project page
*https://web.archive.org/web/20060615060236/http://www.townofpelham.com/townhistorian/index.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pell, John
1611 births
1685 deaths
17th-century English mathematicians
Doctors of Divinity
Original Fellows of the Royal Society
Number theorists
People educated at Steyning Grammar School
People educated at Westminster School, London
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
People from Fobbing
People from Southwick, West Sussex
People imprisoned for debt
Pell family