Papers of David Gregory
Scope and Contents
The papers of David Gregory consist of:
- bound manuscripts of mathematical and personal papers by both David Gregory and James Gregory
- bound manuscripts Lectiones Mechanicae Sive Geometria de Motu parts 1-4 (1689-1690)
- bound manuscripts of treatises on mathematics and astronomy (1683-1694)
- bound manuscripts Notae in Isaaci Newtoni Principia Philosophiae, ( 1693)
Dates
- Creation: 1652-1706
Creator
Extent
0.5 metre
Other Finding Aids
Item level index slips to the collection, alongwith a small bibliography, were compiled by WT Johnstone in 1979 and list not just the items in the collection but all the items on Gregory's original indexes and whether, to his knowledge, they were absent or present at the time. This still serves as useful accompanying documnentaion of the collection and is avialable in our Reading Room as H33.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Bound within the cover of Folio C are two letters denoting the provenance of the collection. One, dated December 1869 from Georgina Gregory, Canaan Lodge. It states that, "Principal Forbes particularly requested my brother, John Gregory, to give these M.S.S. to the University, which my brother had agreed to do. But circumstances prevented my brother from offering them to the University at the time.
The other letter is from James Stuart Tytler to John Small, MA, Edinburgh University, and dated 6 Jan 1870. It gives further background to the collection, including the fact that, "Correspondence with Newton was given to the Royal Society London some years ago" but noting that there were still some Newton items within the collection.
Creator
Subject
- Flamsteed, John (first Astronomer Royal) (Person)
- George, Prince of Denmark, 1653-1708 (Prince of Denmark) (Person)
- Gregory, David, 1659-1708 (professor of mathematics, University of Edinburgh, and Savilian Professor of Astronomy, University of Oxford) (Person)
- Gregory, James, 1638-1675 (professor of mathematics, University of Edinburgh) (Person)
- Newton, Sir Isaac, 1642-1727 (mathematician and astronomer) (Person)
- William, Duke of Gloucester, 1689-1700 (son of Prince George of Denmark) (Person)
- Marischal College (1593-1858) (Organization)
- Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1681-:) (Organization)
- Royal Society (c1645-:) (scientific society) (Organization)
- University of Edinburgh (Scottish University) (Organization)
- University of Oxford, Balliol College. Balliol College (1263-:) (Organization)
Source
- Gregory, Georgina, 1811-1877 (Person)
- Title
- Papers of David Gregory
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections Repository
Centre for Research Collections
University of Edinburgh Main Library
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LJ Scotland
+44(0)131 650 8379
heritagecollections@ed.ac.uk