William Lax
William Lax | |
---|---|
Born | 1761 Ravensworth, North Riding of Yorkshire, England |
Died | 29 October 1836 St Ippolyts, Hertfordshire, England | (aged 74–75)
Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
Known for | Remarks on a Supposed Error in the Elements of Euclid Tables to be Used with the Nautical Almanac |
Relatives | Andrew Amos (son-in-law) |
Awards | Smith's Prize |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astronomy, mathematics |
Institutions | University of Cambridge Board of Longitude Fellow of the Royal Society |
William Lax FRS (1761 – 29 October 1836) was an English astronomer and mathematician who served as Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at the University of Cambridge for 41 years.
Lax was born in
Lax was best known for his Remarks on a Supposed Error in the Elements of Euclid (1807) and his work regarding the
Early life
Lax was born in the village of Ravensworth, near Richmond in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, the son of William (1731 – 19 August 1812) also born in Ravensworth, and Hannah Lax (1738 – 10 June 1811).[1] He was christened on 27 October 1761 in Burneston. He was educated at the Kirby Ravensworth Free Grammar School, where he learned Latin (in which he became fluent) and Greek as well as English language, arithmetic and mathematics.[1][2] Although the school was subsidised by a charitable trust, "Free" in the context of the school's name meant free from all authority save for the Crown.
Lax was admitted as a
Lax
Career
Early career
In 1785 Lax was appointed
Lowndean Chair
In 1795 Lax was appointed Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry in succession to John Smith. The position was a sinecure with an annual salary initially of around £300, later rising to around £500 per annum by 1821.[16][17] Cambridge had two astronomical chairs, and the Lowndean was seen as the more theoretical and less experimental of the two. During Lax's tenure a mathematical chair was seen as "a prize or a means of securing leisure, and at best, merely as offering a position where a man could pursue his own researches undisturbed by other duties".[18] In 1816 Lax was described as holding the professorship with "great reputation".[19] The sole duty of Lax's professorship was that he was required to examine students annually for the Smith's Prize, including John Herschel, Adam Sedgwick, George Biddell Airy and William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire.[20][21]
During Lax's time at Cambridge: "the mathematicians were in the saddle, and it would be difficult to dispute the judgement that they controlled Cambridge studies almost as completely as the
Lax did encounter some criticism during his tenure. Whilst at the university he "never, as far as is known, delivered a single lecture", despite his chair's
Fellow of the Royal Society
Lax was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society on 5 April 1796. He was nominated by the Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne, Anthony Shepherd, Richard Farmer and William Wales.[32] However, due to an enmity of the President Joseph Banks, friends of Charles Hutton and Maskelyne, such as Lax, Samuel Vince and Thomas Mudge, frequently saw their submissions for publications overlooked.[33] If any of them submitted papers to the Society:
they had the honour of having them carefully lodged in the archives of the Society, where the world in general, or even the members of the Society, would derive no more benefit from them than if they were deposited at the centre of the earth.[34]
Lax delivered two papers to the Royal Society which were published in
Board of Longitude
Lax was elected to the
As a scientific member of the Board, Lax was one of eighteen men who were, according to Edmund Dews, "ultimately responsible for the form and contents of the Nautical Almanac. It would have been difficult in these years to select another group equally eminent in their field."[50] Lax was notable for his strong attendance record at the quarterly meetings, not missing a single meeting between 1822 – 25, a record equalled by only three other members, although non-attendance of meetings would have resulted in his not being paid his annual salary of £100.[50] In 1828 Lax appended An easy method of correcting the lunar distance, on account of the spheroidal figure of the earth to the Nautical Almanac. After the Board was dissolved in 1828 Lax unsuccessfully attempted to convince George Biddell Airy to aid in a campaign for its restoration.[51] In 1834 a new edition of his nautical tables was published posthumously.[1] Eva Germaine Rimington Taylor later concluded that all of Lax's works were "of value to the art of navigation".[52]
Personal life
On 28 February 1801 Lax was granted the livings as vicar of Marsworth, Buckinghamshire and squarson of Great Wymondley with St Ippolyts near Hitchin, Hertfordshire "after some years of teaching work".[53] He lived at St Ippolyts where he erected a private observatory which he had transported from Cambridge and had originally belonged to Isaac Newton.[1][54] Charles Hutton's 1815 list of England's 20 most notable private observatories (excluding the King's private observatory) included Professor Lax's.[55][56] Lax spent the last thirty years of his life occupied with "studies and pursuits connected with the advancement of astronomy."[57]
When he arrived at St Ippolyts Lax had trees planted in the vicarage grounds in the form of his initials "W L".
His brother Thomas Lax (1770 – 1 Apr 1851) lived in Ravensworth. He was a
Death
On 1 December 1834, Lax reported that he had been "of late in a very weak state of health".[69] He died "suddenly" on 29 October 1836 at his home in St Ippolyts.[70] His obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine reported that "his constitution was broken in early life [which] made his last years a period of weakness and suffering, so that his physical strength was unequal to the workings of his active mind. To whatever Professor Lax applied, he made himself completely master of it...[a] most excellent and amiable man."[71] He left behind a widow and two daughters, the eldest Margaret and the younger Marian or Marianne (died 21 June 1873).[72][73] In 1826 Margaret was married to Andrew Amos at St Ippolyts Church, and via that line Lax is the grandfather of Sheldon Amos and the great grandfather of Maurice Amos.[74]
References
- ^ a b c d e A. M. Clerke, 'Lax, William (1761–1836)’, rev. Anita McConnell, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 30 April 2012
- ^ "In The Matter of the Kirby Ravensworth Free Grammar School". Vice-Chancellors' Courts, Saturday, 27 May. The Times. No. 18308. London. 29 May 1843. col F, p. 7.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84383-608-7. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84383-608-7. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ a b "The Royal Society. Address of His Royal Highness the President (pp. 141–154)". The London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. LX: 146. 1837.
- ^ Royal Astronomical Society (1839). Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Vol. 4–6. Priestley and Weale. p. 33. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
- ^ a b Admissions to Trinity College, Cambridge Edited by W. W. Rouse Ball and J. A. Venn, accessed 8 May 2012
- ISBN 978-1-84383-608-7. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ "LRO, B/A/1/24 (Episcopal Register 1777-85)". Episcopal Register. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
- ^ A Cambridge Alumni Database, Cambridge University Library, accessed 8 May 2012
- ^ Country News.. The Times (London, England), Monday, 17 March 1788; p. 3.
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- ^ ISBN 978-0-522-84692-8. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
- ^ "News." St. James's Chronicle or the British Evening Post [London, England] 13 October 1791 – 15 Oct. 1791: n.p. 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection. Web. 21 January 2013.
- ^ John M. F. Wright (1827). Alma Mater or Seven Years at the University of Cambridge: in Two Volumes. Black, Young and Young. p. 169. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
- ^ a b c Thos. Lowndes. (3 May 1821). "To Mr. Brougham, and the gentlemen for the committee for investigating abuses in public charity schools, &c". The Morning Post (London, England).
- ^ John M. F. Wright (1827). Alma Mater or Seven Years at the University of Cambridge: in Two Volumes. Black, Young and Young. p. 170. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-486-20630-1. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
- ^ John Watkins; Frederic Shoberl (1816). A biographical dictionary of the living Authors of Great Britain and Ireland: comparising literary memoirs and anecdotes of their lives; and a chronological register of their publications, with the number of editions printed; including notices of some foreign writers whose works have been occasionally published in England. Colburn. p. 199. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
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- ^ Babbage, Charles (1864). Passages from the Life of a Philosopher. Longman. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- ^ J. P. C. Roach (1959). "The University of Cambridge - The age of Newton and Bentley (1660-1800)". Retrieved 5 July 2012.
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- ^ a b Harvey W. Becher, 'Peacock, George (1791–1858)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 accessed 25 December 2011
- ISBN 978-0-521-66310-6. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
- ^ Kevin C. Knox, 'Milner, Isaac (1750–1820)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 24 December 2011
- ^ Annals of the Solar Physics Observatory, Cambridge. Vol. 1. CUP Archive. p. 3. GGKEY:RA1CLPY8NJY. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
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- ^ Walter William Rouse Ball (1889). A history of the study of mathematics at Cambridge. University Press. p. 105. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
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- ^ "William Lax EC/1796/05 GB 117". The Royal Society. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
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- ^ John White Webster; Daniel Treadwell; John Ware (1826). The Boston journal of philosophy and the arts. Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. p. 416. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
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- ^ a b "The Royal Society. Address of His Royal Highness the President (pp. 141–154)". London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. LX: 150. 1837.
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- ^ Charles Tomlinson (1852). Cyclopædia of useful arts, mechanical and chemical, manufactures, mining, and engineering. G. Virtue. p. 795. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
- ^ The British critic. Printed for F. and C. Rivington. 1809. p. 303. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
- ^ William Lax (1807). Remarks on a supposed error in the Elements of Euclid. Cambridge University Press. p. 3. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
- ^ The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris for the Year ... order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 1800. p. 13. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
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- ^ The Nautical magazine: a journal of papers on subjects connected with maritime affairs. Brown, Son and Ferguson. 1832. p. 256. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
- ^ "in pages 896–899 of Review of The Practice of Navigational and Nautical Astronomy by H. Raper". The Nautical Magazine. 9: 897. 1840.
- ^ Papers of the Board of Longitude : Confirmed minutes of the Board of Longitude, 1802-1823 : 2:369
- ^ Edward Sabine (1825). An account of experiments to determine the figure of the earth: by means of the pendulum vibrating seconds in different latitudes, as well as on various other subjects of philosophical inquiry. J. Murray. p. 398. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
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- ^ Hutton, Charles (1815). "English observatories (private)". A Philosophical and Mathematical Dictionary. Vol. 2. Printed for the author etc. p. 129.
- ^ Evans, L. (1 July 1816). "letter of Mr. Evans on the Woolwich Observatory". The Monthly Magazine. 41 (285): 483–484. Evans pointed out 2 mistakes in Hutton's statements concerning private observatories.
- ^ Royal Society (Great Britain) (1837). Proceedings of the Royal Society. The Society. p. 438. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
- ^ a b Hertfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes. The Hertfordshire Village Book. Countryside Books. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
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- ^ Tables to be used with the Nautical almanac for finding the latitude and longitude at sea, 1834. by Lax, William
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- ^ The Gentleman's magazine. F. Jefferies. 1837. p. 656. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
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- ^ Thomas S. Legg, 'Amos, Andrew (1791–1860)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, January 2008 accessed 27 November 2011
Further reading
- Lax, William (1799). "A Method of Finding the Latitude of a Place, by means of Two Altitudes of the Sun and the Time Elapsed Betwixt the Observations". Philosophical Transactions. 89: 74–120. S2CID 186215061.
- Lynn, W. T. (1911). "Lowndes and the Lowndean Professorship". The Observatory. 34: 407. Bibcode:1911Obs....34..405L.
- Neale, Charles Montague (1907). The senior wranglers of the University of Cambridge, from 1748 to 1907. With biographical, & c., notes. Bury St. Edmunds: Groom and Son. p. 22. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
- "Lax, William (LS780W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- Clerke, Agnes Mary (1885–1900). Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. .