William Galbraith (mathematician)
Rev William Galbraith (1786 – 27 October 1850) was a Scottish mathematician. He taught mathematics and nautical astronomy in Edinburgh, and took an interest in surveying work, becoming an advocate of the extension of the work of triangulating Great Britain.[1]
Early life
He was born at Greenlaw, Berwickshire.[2] Initially he was a schoolmaster. His pupil William Rutherford walked long distances to attend his school at Eccles. Subsequently he moved to Edinburgh, and graduated A.M. at the University of Edinburgh in 1821.[3]
Surveyor
During the 1830s Galbraith became interested in the surveying problems of Scotland. In 1831 he pointed out that Arthur's Seat had a strongly magnetic peak.[4] In 1837 he pointed out the impact of anomalies in measurement, work that received recognition;[5] it was topical because of the 1836 geological map of Scotland by John MacCulloch, with which critics had found fault on topographical as well as geological grounds.[6] A paper on the locations of places on the River Clyde was recognised in 1837 by a gold medal, from the Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts for Scotland.[7]
Galbraith followed with detailed Remarks on the Geographical Position of some Points on the West Coast of Scotland (1838).[8] Having made some accurate surveys of his own, he lobbied for further attention from the national survey.[1]
Later life
About 1832 Galbraith was licensed a minister by the presbytery of Dunse. He married Eleanor Gale in 1833.[3]
Galbraith was buried with his wife in the north-east section of the Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh.[9]
Works
Galbraith's major works combined textbook material with mathematical tables:
- Mathematical and Astronomical Tables (1827)[10] Review.[11]
- Trigonometrical Surveying, Levelling, and Railway Engineering (1842)[12]
He edited John Ainslie's 1812 treatise on land surveying (1849),[13] and with William Rutherford revised John Bonnycastle's Algebra.[14]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 [1]
- ↑ http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1851MNRAS..11...86.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www20.us.archive.org/stream/topographicalsta01edinuoft#page/n145/mode/2up
- ↑ (German) http://www26.us.archive.org/stream/almanachderkais03wiengoog#page/n654/mode/2up
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ https://archive.org/stream/monumentsmonumen01rogeiala#page/152/mode/2up
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ https://archive.org/stream/trigonometrical00galbgoog#page/n6/mode/2up
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/atreatiseonland00ainsgoog
- ↑
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