Spitalfields Mathematical Society

The Spitalfields Mathematical Society was founded in 1717 by Joseph Middleton.[1] The society had 64 members when it was established, and at first meetings were held in the Monmouth's Head, a public house in the Spitalfields district of London.[2][3] Fellows of the society were drawn from artisans and craftsmen such as weavers, apothecaries, brewers, ironmongers, stockbrokers, and makers of optical and mathematical instruments. Well-known members included John Canton, John Dollond, Thomas Simpson, John Crosley, John Tatum, Francis Baily, and Benjamin Gompertz.[4]

It merged with the Royal Astronomical Society in 1846.[1]

The name lives on in the "Spitalfields Days" organised by, among others, the Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge, Mathematics Research Centre, Warwick, and International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Edinburgh.[5]

References
  1. Sampson, R. A. (1923). "The Decade 1840–1850". In Dreyer, J. L. E.; Turner, H. H. (eds.). History of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1820–1920. London, United Kingdom: Royal Astronomical Society. pp. 99–104. ISBN 0-632-02173-X.
  2. Stewart, Larry; Weindling, Paul (1995). "Philosophical threads: natural philosophy and public experiment among the weavers of Spitalfields". British Journal for the History of Science. 28: 40.
  3. O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. "The Spitalfields Mathematical Society". Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  4. Stewart, Larry; Weindling, Paul (1995). "Philosophical threads: natural philosophy and public experiment among the weavers of Spitalfields". British Journal for the History of Science. 28: 41–2.
  5. "Spitalfields Days". London Mathematical Society. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
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