Patrick Copland

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 ...

FSA LLD (January 1749 – 10 November 1822) was a Professor of Mathematics (1775-1779) and Natural Philosophy (1779-1817) at

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has acted as the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. However, the building was constructed for and is on long- ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. He was a co-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. He was a keen astronomer and was responsible for building the Castlehill Observatory in Aberdeen. He was a pioneer of the use of demonstration equipment (much of his own design) to explain the principles of mathematics and physics.

Life

He was born in January 1749 (many sources erroneously state 1748, calculating using his known age at death) at the manse of

Fintray Hatton of Fintray, commonly referred to as Fintray, is a village on the River Don in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in the parish of Fintray. It was a textile village and its church dates from 1821, and there used to be a nearby ferry crossing the ri ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

, the son of Rev Samuel Copland, from a family originating in Tough. In 1762, he won a bursary to

. He was taught Mathematics under Prof John Stewart and Natural Philosophy under Prof George Skene. In 1774 Copland became assistant to Prof George Skene. In 1779 he replaced Prof William Traill as professor of Mathematics at Marischal. He is known to have been an associate of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

. In 1780, he began a public campaign to gather funds to build and equip the Castlehill Observatory in Aberdeen, and this was completed in October 1781, including a telescope by

Peter Dollond Peter Dollond (24 February 1731 – 2 July 1820) was an English maker of optical instruments, the son of John Dollond. He is known for his successful optics business, and for the invention of the apochromat. Biography Dollond was born in Kensing ...

at the recommendation of

Nevil Maskelyne Nevil Maskelyne (; 6 October 1732 – 9 February 1811) was the fifth British Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811. He was the first person to scientifically measure the mass of the planet Earth. He created the ''British Nau ...

the Astronomer Royal. The observatory had considerable financial input from

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...

, who was also Chancellor of Marischal College at that time. Curiously, in 1783, Copland was accused of involvement in the "Black Arts" through his numerous experiments with electricity at the Observatory, "drawing mischief out of the clouds with his electric batteries". In 1803, he purchased Fountainhall House in Aberdeen (now 130 Blenheim Place) from his former mentor, Prof George Skene, and this remained his home until death. He resigned on 5 October 1822 and died around a month later, on 10 November 1822, aged 73.

Students

Edward Ellice (merchant) Edward Ellice the Elder (27 September 1783 – 17 September 1863), known in his time as the "Bear", was a British merchant and politician. He was a Director of the Hudson's Bay Company and a prime mover behind the Reform Bill of 1832. Biogra ...

Robert Davidson (inventor) Robert Davidson (1804–1894) was a Scottish inventor who built the first known electric locomotive in 1837. He was a lifelong resident of Aberdeen, northeast Scotland, where he was a prosperous chemist and dyer, amongst other ventures. Davids ...

Family

He was married to Elizabeth Ogilvie or Ogilvy. They had at least one son: Alexander Copland (b. 1788); and one daughter, Mary Copland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copland, Patrick 1749 births 1822 deaths Scottish astronomers People from Aberdeenshire People associated with Aberdeen Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Academics of the University of Aberdeen