Thomas Branker (Brancker) (1633–1676) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

Life

He was born at Barnstaple in August 1633, the son of another Thomas Brancker, a graduate of

Exeter College, Oxford (Let Exeter Flourish) , old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall'' , named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter , established = , sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge , rector = Sir Richard Trainor ...

, who was in 1626 a schoolmaster near

Ilchester Ilchester is a village and civil parish, situated on the River Yeo or Ivel, five miles north of Yeovil, in the English county of Somerset. Originally a Roman town, and later a market town, Ilchester has a rich medieval history and was a nota ...

, and about 1630 head-master of the Barnstaple High School. The family originally bore the name of Brouncker. Young Brancker matriculated at his father's college 8 November 1652; proceeded B.A. 15 June 1655, and was elected a probationer fellow of Exeter 30 June 1655, and full fellow 10 July 1656. After taking his master's degree (22 April 1658), he took to preaching, but he refused to conform to the ceremonies of the church of England, and was deprived of his fellowship 4 June 1663. He then retired to Cheshire, changed his views, and applied for and obtained episcopal ordination. He became a minister at

Whitegate, Cheshire Whitegate is a small village in Cheshire, England, located near the towns of Northwich and Winsford. It is situated in the civil parish of Whitegate and Marton, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester. At its centre is an ancie ...

, but his reputation as a mathematician reached

William Brereton, 3rd Baron Brereton William Brereton, 3rd Baron Brereton FRS (4 May 1631 – 17 March 1680) was an English mathematician and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1659 and became Baron Brereton in the Irish peerage in 1664. He was chairman of the Committee o ...

, who gave him the rectory of

Tilston Tilston is a village and a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. At the 2001 Census, the population was recorded as 627, reducing to 603 at the 2011 census. St Ma ...

, near Malpas, in 1668. He resigned the benefice after a few months, and became head-master of the grammar school at Macclesfield, where he died in November 1676. He was buried in Macclesfield church, and the inscription on his monument states that he was a linguist as well as a mathematician, chemist, and natural philosopher, and that he pursued studies under

Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of ...

. Around 1665 he married Hannah Meyrick and had four daughters and two sons. The youngest son, Benjamin, became a gold and silversmith in Liverpool and was the grandfather of Peter Whitfield Brancker, Mayor of Liverpool (1801).

Works

Branker gained his first knowledge of mathematics and chemistry from Peter Sthael of Strasburg, a chemist and

Rosicrucian Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking it ...

, 'who before 1660 settled in Oxford as a private tutor, at the suggestion of Robert Boyle, and numbered

Ralph Bathurst Ralph Bathurst, FRS (1620 – 14 June 1704) was an English theologian and physician. Early life He was born in Hothorpe, Northamptonshire in 1620 and educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry. He graduated with a B.A. degree from Trinity C ...

, Christopher Wren, with Branker, Anthony Wood and others among his pupils. Brancker's earliest publication was ''Doctrinæ Sphæricæ Adumbratio unà cum usu Globorum Artificialium'', Oxford, 1662. In 1668 he published a translation of an introduction to algebra from the High Dutch of

Rhonius Johann Rahn (Latinised form Rhonius) (10 March 1622 – 25 May 1676) was a Swiss mathematician who is credited with the first use of the division sign, ÷ (a repurposed obelus variant) and the therefore sign, ∴. The symbols were used in ''Teu ...

, and added a factor table for odd numbers up to 100,000. The book was licensed 18 May 1665, but the publication was delayed to enable John Pell to add notes and corrections. John Collins also gave Brancker assistance over the book, and praised it in a letter to James Gregory in 1668. The value of the table and translation is acknowledged in an early paper in the '' Philosophical Transactions'' (No. 35, pp. 688–9), and the table and preface were reprinted by

Francis Maseres Francis Maseres (15 December 1731 – 19 May 1824) was an English lawyer. He is known as attorney general of the Province of Quebec, judge, mathematician, historian, member of the Royal Society, and cursitor baron of the exchequer. Biography F ...

in a volume of mathematical tracts (1795), together with James Bernoulli's ''Doctrine of Permutations'' and other papers. Maseres states that John Wallis thought well of Brancker's table, and corrected a few errors in it. A manuscript key to an elaborate cipher in the possession of J. H. Cooke, F.S.A., is attributed to Branker and is described in the ''Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries'' for 1877.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Branker, Thomas 1633 births 1676 deaths 17th-century English mathematicians Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford