William Fishburn Donkin
William Fishburn Donkin | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 15 November 1869 | (aged 55)
Nationality | British |
Education | St Peter's School, York; St Edmund Hall, Oxford |
Alma mater | University College, Oxford |
Occupation | Savilian professor of astronomy |
Known for | The Secular Acceleration of the Moon's Mean Motion |
William Fishburn Donkin
Life
He was born at
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.[2]
Donkin's poor health compelled him to live much abroad during the latter part of his life. He died 15 November 1869.[2]
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
Between 1850 and 1860, Donkin contributed papers to the
In 1861, Donkin 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.[3] His last paper, a Note on Certain Statements in Elementary Works concerning the Specific Heat of Gases, appeared in 1864.[2]
In 1867 Donkin began work on Acoustics; the first volume was put to press in 1870 by Bartholomew Price, 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).[4]
References
- ^ "1870MNRAS..30R..77. Page 84". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885โ1900. .
- ^ W. Donkin (1850) On the geometrical interpretation of quaternions, Philosophical Magazine series 3, volume 36 supplement, link from Biodiversity Heritage Library
- ^ W. Donkin (1870) Acoustics, volume 1, link from HathiTrust
Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888). "Donkin, William Fishburn". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 15. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Sources
- Harrison, W. J. "Donkin, William Fishburn (1814โ1869)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7813. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)