Lewis Evans (1755 – 19 November 1827) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

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 ...

Life

Evans, son of the Rev. Thomas Evans of

Bassaleg Bassaleg ( cy, Basaleg) is a suburb on the west side of Newport, Wales. It is in the Graig electoral ward and community.Bassaleg is located two miles northwest of Newport city centre. Bassaleg is bounded by the A467 road (A4072) to the east, th ...

, Newport, Monmouthshire, was born in 1755. He was matriculated at Merton College, Oxford, 16 December 1774, but left the university without a degree. In 1777 he was ordained by the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, his first curacy being that of Ashbury, Berkshire, where he served until 6 July 1778. He then commenced residence as curate of

Compton, Berkshire Compton is a village and civil parish in the River Pang valley in the Berkshire Downs about south of Didcot which is buffered from neighbouring settlements by cultivated fields to all sides. The village is in a gently-sloped dry valley and t ...

, and continued there until 1788, in which year he received institution to the vicarage of

Froxfield Froxfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire. The parish is on the Wiltshire-West Berkshire border, and the village lies on the A4 national route about west of Hungerford and east of Marlborough. Froxfield vil ...

, Wiltshire, where he held the living until his death. In 1799 he was appointed first mathematical master at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in which post he laboured until 1820. In addition to a competent knowledge of various sciences, he had turned much of his attention, in the latter part of his life, to astronomy. He possessed several valuable instruments, among which was one of Troughton's best

transit circle The meridian circle is an instrument for timing of the passage of stars across the local meridian, an event known as a culmination, while at the same time measuring their angular distance from the nadir. These are special purpose telescopes mo ...

s. Evans for many years employed himself as a skilful and successful observer, having his own private observatory on

Woolwich Common Woolwich Common is a common in Woolwich in southeast London, England. It is partly used as military land (less than 40%) and partly as an urban park. Woolwich Common is a conservation area. It is part of the South East London Green Chain. It is al ...

Charles Hutton Charles Hutton FRS FRSE LLD (14 August 1737 – 27 January 1823) was a British mathematician and surveyor. He was professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich from 1773 to 1807. He is remembered for his calculation of the ...

's 1815 list of England's 20 most notable private observatories (excluding the King's private observatory) included the observatory at Woolwich. Evans pointed out two mistakes in Hutton's statements concerning private observatories. Evans was elected

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 knowledge, including mathemat ...

on 29 May 1823, and was also fellow of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NG ...

. He died at Froxfield on 19 November 1827. By his wife, Ann Norman, he was father of

Thomas Simpson Evans Thomas Simpson Evans (1777–1818) was a British mathematician. Life Evans, eldest son of the Rev. Lewis Evans (1755–1827), by his wife, Ann Norman, was baptised in August 1777. He was named after Thomas Simpson, the mathematician. In or abo ...

, and of

Arthur Benoni Evans Arthur Benoni Evans (1781–1854) was a British writer. Evans was born at Compton Beauchamp in the English county of Berkshire (now in Oxfordshire), on 25 March 1781. His father, the Rev. Lewis Evans, vicar of Froxfield, Wiltshire, was a well-kn ...

. His grandchildren included the poets Anne Evans and Sebastian Evans.

Works

To the ''Philosophical Magazine'' Evans contributed the following dissertations: ‘An improved Demonstration of Newton's Binomial Theorem on Fluxional Principles’ (vol. xxiv.); ‘Observations of α Polaris for determining the North Polar Distance of that Star at the beginning of 1813’ (vol. xliii.); ‘Tables of the Sun's Altitude and Zenith Distance, for every day in the year’ (vol. lvi.); ‘The Solar Eclipse, observed on 7th Sept. 1820’ (vol. lvi.)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Lewis 1755 births 1827 deaths 18th-century British mathematicians 19th-century British mathematicians Alumni of Merton College, Oxford People from Newport, Wales Welsh mathematicians Fellows of the Royal Society