John West (mathematician)

John West

Frontpage of Treatises (1838)
Born (1756-04-10)April 10, 1756
Logie, Fife, Scotland
Died October 17, 1817(1817-10-17) (aged 61)
Morant Bay, Jamaica
Fields Mathematics
Institutions University of St Andrews
Alma mater University of St Andrews
Influences Nicolas Vilant
Influenced James Ivory
John Leslie

John West (1756-1817) was a mathematician and priest from Scotland.

Life and work

Fourth child of Samuel West and Margaret Mein, his father died in 1766. West matriculated in the University of Saint Andrews in 1769 thanks to financial help of the presbytery clerk Dr. Adamson.[1] He, like his brothers, studied mathematics under professor Nicolas Vilant.[2]

He was assistant of professor Vilant, who had poor health, but lacking of prospects in his native land, he emigrated to Jamaica,[3] in 1784, the same year that Elements of Mathematics and A System of Shorthand were published.[4]

In Jamaica, West was initially teacher in the Manning’s Free School at Savanna-la-Mar in Westmoreland Parish.[5]

In 1790 he was appointed rector of Saint Thomas in Morant Bay, where he died in 1817.

During his life in Jamaica he never left his mathematical studies, despite his academic isolation.[6]

Before his death, he sent the manuscript of Mathematical Treatises to his old student John Leslie, who published it in 1838.

References

  1. Craik, page 32.
  2. Craik, pages 33-34.
  3. Mann & Craik, page 80.
  4. Craik, page 40.
  5. Craik, page 41.
  6. Mann & Craik, page 90.

Bibliography

External links

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