Nicolas Vilant

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 ...

(1737-1807) was a

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 ...

from Scotland in the 18th century, known for his textbooks. He was a joint founder 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 ...

in 1783.

Life

He was baptised in Ferryport-on-Tay (now called

Tayport Tayport, also known as Ferry-Port on Craig, is a town and burgh, and parish, in the county of Fife, Scotland, acting as a commuter town for Dundee. The motto of the Burgh is ''Te oportet alte ferri'' ("It is incumbent on you to carry yourself ...

) on 12 June 1737, the son of Rev William Vilant, the local minister (but of French descent), and his second wife, Jean Wilson. He studied Mathematics at St Andrews University from 1752 under Prof David Gregory. Vilant was

Regius Professor of Mathematics The Regius Professorship of Mathematics is the name given to three chair (academic), chairs in mathematics at British universities, one at the University of St Andrews, founded by Charles II of England, Charles II in 1668, the second one at the Uni ...

in the

University of Saint Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

from 1765 to his death in 1807. Often ill, he was unable to teach most of this time, and lectures were given by assistants, among them John West. Under Newtonian tradition, he was unable to follow the continental developments in

mathematical analysis Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions, limit (mathematics), limits, and related theories, such as Derivative, differentiation, Integral, integration, measure (mathematics), measure, infinite sequences, series (m ...

, like most of his British contemporaries. He died in

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

on 25 May 1807.

Family

He married Elizabeth Brand around 1770. Two of their sons attended St Andrews University.

Publications

He was a good mathematician, and his textbooks were very popular until the first years of the 19th century. The most renowned was ''The Elements of Mathematical Analysis, Abridged for the Use of Students'', first printed in 1777 and used as a university textbook from 1783, reprinted for student use. There are many manuscripts conserved in the archives of the

University of Saint Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

., page 174, abstract.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vilant, Nicolas 1737 births 1807 deaths 18th-century Scottish people 18th-century Scottish mathematicians People from Tayport Alumni of the University of St Andrews Academics of the University of St Andrews Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh