John Muller (1699 – June 1784) was a

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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

from the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

Life

Born Johann Müller in the Holy Roman Empire, he moved to London in 1736. In 1741 he was appointed deputy head of the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...

, where he performed all the teaching duties of

Martin Folkes Martin Folkes (29 October 1690 – 28 June 1754) was an English antiquary, numismatist, mathematician and astronomer who served as the president of the Royal Society from 1741 to 1752. Life Folkes was born in Westminster on 29 October 1690, ...

. He transformed the institution into a disciplined cadet academy with the help of

Thomas Simpson Thomas Simpson FRS (20 August 1710 – 14 May 1761) was a British mathematician and inventor known for the eponymous Simpson's rule to approximate definite integrals. The attribution, as often in mathematics, can be debated: this rule had b ...

. In 1754 he became first master of the Academy, after Folkes's death. He was later appointed Professor of Artillery and Fortification (and "Preceptor of Engineering, etc. to his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester"); he retired in 1766. During his time at the Academy Muller carried out gunnery experiments with Colonel Desaguliers, described in the second edition of ''A Treatise of Artillery''. Muller married Mary Horn on 29 December 1774, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster. He died at his home in Eaton Street (now Greet Street), London in June 1784. The contents of his library were auctioned at the Military Library, Whitehall early in 1785. Muller’s works were concerned with mathematics and fortification. At the Academy there were strict instructions on which topics each instructor was to teach, which included a list of works to be used; several of Muller's books were his included.

Works

*A Mathematical Treatise: Containing a System of Conic-sections; with the doctrine of fluxions and fluents, applied to various subjects (1736) *A Treatise Containing the Elementary Part of Fortification (1746) *Elements of Mathematics (1748, also titled A System of Mathematics) *A Treatise Containing the Practical Part of Fortification (1755) *A Treatise on Artillery (1757; later editions were titled A Treatise of Artillery) *The Field Engineer; translated from the French (1759) *Traité analytique des sections coniques, fluxions et fluentes. Avec un essai sur les quadratures, et un traité du mouvement (1760) *A New System of Mathematics (1769) *New Elements of Mathematics: or, Euclid corrected (1773)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Müller, John 18th-century German mathematicians 1699 births 1748 deaths 18th-century engineers from the Holy Roman Empire Academics of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Emigrants from the Holy Roman Empire to the Kingdom of Great Britain