Benjamin Robins
Benjamin Robins (1707 – 29 July 1751) was a pioneering British scientist, Newtonian mathematician, and military engineer.
He wrote an influential treatise on gunnery, for the first time introducing Newtonian science to military men, was an early enthusiast for rifled gun barrels, and his work had substantive influence on the development of artillery during the latter half of the eighteenth century – and directly stimulated the teaching of calculus in military academies.
Early life
Benjamin Robins was born in
Scientific gunnery
In particular he carried out an extensive series of experiments in gunnery, embodying his results in his famous treatise on New Principles of Gunnery (1742),[3] which contains a description of his ballistic pendulum (see chronograph).[2]
Robins also made a number of important experiments on the resistance of the air to the motion of projectiles,[4][5][6] and on the force of gunpowder, with computation of the velocities thereby communicated to projectiles. He compared the results of his theory with experimental determinations of the ranges of mortars and cannon, and gave practical maxims for the management of artillery. He also made observations on the flight of rockets, and wrote on the advantages of rifled gun barrels. His work on gunnery was translated into German by Leonhard Euler, who added a critical commentary of his own.[2] However, the work of Robins still served as an important piece of technical information that helped the later advancement of the Prussian artillery, especially of its improvement in accuracy, a big step forwards that the book turned out to be a shot in the arm of the ambitious Frederick the Great who determined to vault the status and power of Prussian artillery to the top among other European armies.
Mathematics
Of less interest nowadays are Robins's more purely mathematical writings, such as his Discourse concerning the Nature and Certainty of Sir Isaac Newton's Methods of Fluxions and of Prime and Ultimate Ratios (1735), A Demonstration of the Eleventh Proposition of Sir Isaac Newton's Treatise of Quadratures (Phil. Trans., 1727),[7] and similar works.[2]
Politics
Besides his scientific labours, Robins took an active part in politics. He wrote pamphlets in support of the opposition to Sir
In 1749, he was appointed engineer general to the
References
- ^ S2CID 71424677.
- ^ a b c d e f public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Robins, Benjamin". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 422. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Robins, Benjamin (1742). "New Principles of Gunnery: Containing the Determination of the Force of Gun-powder, and an Investigation of the Difference in the Resisting Power of the Air to Swift and Slow Motions. With Several Other Tracts on the Improvement of Practical Gunnery".
- ^
Staff writer (2009). "Wind Tunnel : Planes, Flying and Aviation". Aviation Earth. Archived from the original on 6 September 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
English military Engineer and mathematician Benjamin Robins (1707–1751) invented a whirling arm apparatus to determine drag and did some of the first experiments in aviation theory.
- ^ "Wind Tunnels of NASA", Donald D. Baals and William R. Corliss
- JSTOR 3106305
- ^
Robins, Benjamin; Newton, Isaac (1726). "Demonstration of the 11th Proposition of Sir Isaac Newton's Treatise of Quadratures. By Mr. Benjamin Robins, A". Philosophical Transactions. 34. Royal Society: 230–236. JSTOR 103483.
Sources
- Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 48. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Steele, Brett D. "Robins, Benjamin (1707–1751)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23823. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Benjamin Robins", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews