William Fishburn Donkin
FRS FRAS FRAS may refer to:
* Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society
(Whatever shines should be observed)
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(16 February 1814 – 15 November 1869) was a British astronomer and mathematician,
Savilian Professor of Astronomy
The position of Savilian Professor of Astronomy was established at the University of Oxford in 1619. It was founded (at the same time as the Savilian Professorship of Geometry) by Sir Henry Savile, a mathematician and classical scholar who was ...
at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
Life
He was born at
Bishop Burton
Bishop Burton is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies on the A1079 road approximately to the west of the market town of Beverley.
According to the 2011 UK census, Bishop Burton parish had a population ...
,
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, on 15 February 1814. His parents were Thomas Donkin (1776–1856) and Alice née Bateman (1784–1860). Two of his uncles were
Bryan Donkin
Bryan Donkin FRS FRAS
(22 March 1768 – 27 February 1855) developed the first paper making machine and created the world's first commercial canning factory. These were the basis for large industries that continue to flourish today. Bryan D ...
and
Thomas Bateman
Thomas Bateman (8 November 1821 (baptised) – 28 August 1861) was an English antiquary and barrow-digger.
Biography
Thomas Bateman was born in Rowsley, Derbyshire, England, the son of the amateur archaeologist William Bateman. After the deat ...
. He was educated at
St Peter's School, York
St Peter's School is a co-educational independent boarding and day school (also referred to as a public school), in the English City of York, with extensive grounds on the banks of the River Ouse. Founded by St Paulinus of York in AD 627, ...
, and in 1832 entered
St Edmund Hall, Oxford
St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any universit ...
. In 1834, Donkin won a classical scholarship at
University College
In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...
, in 1836 he obtained a
double first
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...
in classics and mathematics, and a year later he carried off the mathematical and Johnson mathematical scholarships. He proceeded B.A. 25 May 1836, and M.A. 1839. He was elected as a fellow of University College, and he continued for about six years at St Edmund Hall in the capacity of mathematical lecturer.
In 1842, Donkin was elected Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, in succession to
George Johnson, a post which he held for the remainder of his life. Soon afterwards he was elected 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 ...
, and also of the Royal Astronomical Society.
In 1844, he married the third daughter of the Rev. John Hawtrey of Guernsey.
Donkin's poor health compelled him to live much abroad during the latter part of his life. He died 15 November 1869.
Works
There is a list of his papers, sixteen in number, in the ''Catalogue of Scientific Papers'' published by the Royal Society. Early works were an ''Essay on the Theory of the Combination of Observations'' for the Ashmolean Society, and articles on
ancient Greek music
Music was almost universally present in ancient Greek society, from marriages, funerals, and religious ceremonies to theatre, folk music, and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry. It thus played an integral role in the lives of ancient Greek ...
for William Smith's ''Dictionary of Antiquities''.
Between 1850 and 1860, Donkin contributed papers to the ''
Philosophical Transactions'', including one on ''The Equation of Laplace's Functions'', and another ''On a Class of Differential Equations, including those which occur in Dynamical Problems''.
In 1861, Dokin read a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society on ''The Secular Acceleration of the Moon's Mean Motion'' (printed in ''Monthly Notices'', R. A. Soc., 1861). He was also a contributor to the ''
Philosophical Magazine
The ''Philosophical Magazine'' is one of the oldest scientific journals published in English. It was established by Alexander Tilloch in 1798;John Burnett"Tilloch, Alexander (1759–1825)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford Univer ...
''. In June 1850 he explained the algebra of
quaternions and spatial rotation Unit quaternions, known as ''versors'', provide a convenient mathematical notation for representing spatial orientations and rotations of elements in three dimensional space. Specifically, they encode information about an axis-angle rotation abou ...
. His last paper, a ''Note on Certain Statements in Elementary Works concerning the Specific Heat of Gases'', appeared in 1864.
In 1867 Donkin began work on ''Acoustics''; the first volume was put to press in 1870 by
Bartholomew Price, after Donkin's death. The text studies vibrations, particularly transverse vibrations of an elastic string (chapter 7), longitudinal vibrations of an elastic rod (chapter 8), and lateral vibrations of a thin elastic rod (chapter 9).
[W. Donkin (1870]
Acoustics, volume 1
link from HathiTrust
References
Attribution
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donkin, William Fishburn
1814 births
1869 deaths
19th-century English mathematicians
Savilian Professors of Astronomy
Fellows of New College, Oxford
Fellows of the Royal Society
19th-century British astronomers
People from Beverley
Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford
People educated at St Peter's School, York
Alumni of University College, Oxford