Royal Mathematical School is a branch of

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553 ...

, founded by Charles II. It is currently Christ's Hospital's Maths Department.

History

It was established so that potential sailors could learn navigation and mathematicians could train at the school.

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

was closely involved in the foundation, in 1673, with

Jonas Moore Sir Jonas Moore, FRS (1617–1679) was an English mathematician, surveyor, ordnance officer, and patron of astronomy. He took part in two of the most ambitious English civil engineering projects of the 17th century: draining the Great Level ...

. The School was integrated into Christ's Hospital, with boys who were pupils being selected aged 11 or 12 and prepared for a career in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. There was a short-lived new mathematical school within Christ's Hospital, backed by

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...

, and taught by

Humphry Ditton Humphry Ditton (29 May 1675 – 15 October 1715) was an English mathematician. He was the author of several influential works. Life Ditton was born on 29 May 1675 in Salisbury, the only son of Humphry Ditton, gentleman and ardent nonconformist, ...

; it ran from 1706 to 1715, when Ditton died, but then was closed down. James Hodgson was master of the Royal Mathematical School from 1709 to 1755, with

John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to: Politicians United Kingdom politicians * J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918 *John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926) ...

as assistant towards the end of his life. Other masters included James Dodson and William Wales. The master of the early 1760s, Daniel Harris, wrote with

John Bevis John Bevis (10 November 1695 in Salisbury, Wiltshire – 6 November 1771) was an English doctor, electrical researcher and astronomer. He is best known for discovering the Crab Nebula in 1731. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, being ...

the manual "Hints for Running the Lines" used by

Charles Mason Charles Mason (April 1728 Jeremiah Dixon Jeremiah Dixon FRS (27 July 1733 – 22 January 1779) was an English surveyor and astronomer who is best known for his work with Charles Mason, from 1763 to 1767, in determining what was later called the Mason–Dixon line. Early life and ...

for their survey of the

Mason–Dixon line The Mason–Dixon line, also called the Mason and Dixon line or Mason's and Dixon's line, is a demarcation line separating four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia (part of Virginia ...

.http://dspace.udel.edu:8080/dspace/bitstream/19716/4591/1/article2.pdf, p. 5.

References

*N. Plumley, ''The Royal Mathematical School within Christ's Hospital: The early years. — Its aims and achievements'', Vistas in Astronomy, Volume 20, Part 1, 1976, Pages 51–56.

Notes

{{Reflist, 2 Christ's Hospital

History

See also

References

Notes