Matthew Raper (1705–1778) was a British astronomer, mathematician, and scholar in various fields. He published papers on diverse subjects, including
ancient Greek coinage
The history of ancient Greek coinage can be divided (along with most other Greek art forms) into four periods: the Archaic, the Classical, the Hellenistic and the Roman. The Archaic period extends from the introduction of coinage to the Greek ...
and
Roman currency, as well as their measures and their history from Greek and Latin texts.
Raper was elected to 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 ...
on 30 May 1754 and was awarded the
Copley Medal in 1771 for a paper "Inquiry into the Value of the ancient Greek and Roman Money." He translated ''Dissertation on the Gipseys'' from
Heinrich Grellman's German original and wrote diverse papers such as "An Enquiry into the Measure of the Roman Foot" (1760) and "Observations on the Moon's Eclipse, March 17., and the Sun's Eclipse, April 1, 1764."
Matthew Raper's father was also named Matthew and left him the Manor of
Thorley, Hertfordshire
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Thorley is a village and civil parish in East Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Thorley Street, Thorley Wash and Old Thorley, and is bordered at the north by the market town of Bishop ...
, upon his death in 1748. Raper had an observatory on the roof of the manor house; upon his death in 1778, the manorial rights passed to his brother John Raper.
References
External links
*https://web.archive.org/web/20110928211921/http://www.stortfordhistory.co.uk/thorley/thorley_1.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raper, Matthew
1705 births
1778 deaths
18th-century British mathematicians
18th-century British astronomers
British numismatists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Recipients of the Copley Medal