Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope, FRS (15 August 1714 – 7 March 1786) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

peer. The son of

James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope (c. 16735 February 1721) was a British soldier, diplomat and statesman who effectively served as Chief Minister between 1717 and 1721. He is also the last Chancellor of the Exchequer to sit in the House of Lor ...

, and

Lucy Pitt James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope (c. 16735 February 1721) was a British soldier, diplomat and statesman who effectively served as Chief Minister between 1717 and 1721. He is also the last Chancellor of the Exchequer to sit in the House of Lor ...

, he succeeded to his father's titles in 1721. He was a Fellow 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 ...

from 1735, and had a lifelong interest in mathematics. He was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1774. He privileged the pursuit of science and mathematics over politics and became close to prominent natural philosophers such as

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

and

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

. As a patron of various mathematicians, he came into contact with

Thomas Bayes Thomas Bayes ( ; 1701 7 April 1761) was an English statistician, philosopher and Presbyterian minister who is known for formulating a specific case of the theorem that bears his name: Bayes' theorem. Bayes never published what would become his ...

, one of the founders of

Bayesian inference Bayesian inference is a method of statistical inference in which Bayes' theorem is used to update the probability for a hypothesis as more evidence or information becomes available. Bayesian inference is an important technique in statistics, a ...

. On 25 July 1745, he married Grizel Hamilton, daughter of

Charles Hamilton, Lord Binning Charles Hamilton, Lord Binning (1697 – 27 December 1732), was a Scotland, Scottish nobleman, politician and poet. Life The son of Thomas Hamilton, 6th Earl of Haddington, and Helen Hope, he used the courtesy title Lord Binning from birth. Lor ...

. They had two sons: *Philip Stanhope, Viscount Mahon (24 June 1746 – 6 July 1763). *

Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope, aka Charles Mahon, 3rd Earl Stanhope, FRS (3 August 175315 December 1816), was a British statesman, inventor, and scientist. He was the father of Lady Hester Stanhope and brother-in-law of William Pitt th ...

(3 August 1753 – 15 December 1816).''The Register of Births & Baptisms in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster Vol. IV. 1741–1760''. 29 August 1753.

References

* * Sharon McGrayne ''The Theory That Would Not Die'' (Yale 2011) Ch 1. 1714 births 1786 deaths Earls Stanhope Fellows of the Royal Society {{GB-earl-stub Members of the American Philosophical Society