Person: Stewart, Matthew

Matthew Stewart was a Scottish geometer who wrote on geometry and planetary motion.

Matthew attended a grammar school on the Isle of Bute, then in 1734 he began to work under Simson at the University of Glasgow.
Simson was working trying to restore the Porisms of Pappus and while Stewart was studying in Glasgow he had impressed Simson by coming up with some brilliant ideas on the Porisms.
In it he makes various suggestions for the publication of Stewart's results - an Appendix to the "Plane loci", incorporation in the proposed work on "Porisms", or some in one and some in the other - and he reiterates his concern for confidentiality ...
In May 1743 Stewart spent several weeks in Glasgow working on mathematics with Simson and assisting him in the production of his text Plane loci.
Stewart was licensed to preach at Dunoon in May 1744, then one year later he became a minister at Roseneath, Dumbartonshire.
Dugald Stewart, who was born on 22 November 1753, went on to become a mathematician and philosopher who was the major exponent of the Scottish "common sense" school of philosophy.
In 1756 Stewart wrote on Kepler's second law of planetary motion using geometrical methods.
Stewart was elected a fellow of the Royal Society on 21 June 1764.

Born 15 January 1717, Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland. Died 23 January 1785, Catrine, Ayrshire, Scotland.

View full biography at MacTutor

Astronomy, Origin Scotland

Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0!

O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive