W. F. Donkin
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William Fishburn Donkin FRS
FRAS FRAS may refer to: * Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, post-nominal letters * Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland are individuals who have bee ...
(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 Professor of Geometry, Savilian Professorship of Geometry) by Henry Savile (Bible translator), S ...
at the University of Oxford.


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, on 15 February 1814. His parents were Thomas Donkin (1776–1856) and Alice née Bateman (1784–1860). Two of his uncles were Bryan Donkin and Thomas Bateman. 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. In 1834, Donkin won a classical scholarship at University College, in 1836 he obtained a double first 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, 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 for William Smith's ''Dictionary of Antiquities''. Between 1850 and 1860, Donkin contributed papers to the ''
Philosophical Transactions ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the first journa ...
'', 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''. In June 1850 he explained the algebra of quaternions and spatial rotation. 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 Reverend Bartholomew Price (181829 December 1898) was an English mathematician, clergyman and educator. Life He was born at Coln St Denis, Gloucestershire, in 1818. He was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford, of which college (after taking a fi ...
, 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 HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...


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