Mathematician and natural philosopher Colin MacLaurin was born in Kilmodan, Glendaruel, in Argyllshire, on February 1698. He was educated in Dumbarton and studied at Glasgow University where he showed an early mastery of mathematics. On being awarded his MA he briefly studied Divinity. In 1717 he became Professor of Mathematics at Marischal College, Aberdeen. In 1719 he visited London, meeting Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) and becoming a member of the Royal Society. On a second visit in 1721 he met Martin Folkes (1690-1754), President of the Royal Society. In 1722 MacLaurin was engaged by Lord Polwarth as a tutor to his eldest son, and they travelled to Lorraine. In 1725 he became deputy Professor to the ageing James Gregory at Edinburgh University. His skill lay in experimental physics, astronomical observation, and practical mechanics. He proposed an astronomical observatory for Scotland and he improved the maps of Orkney and Shetland. His publications include his thesis on the power of gravity, Geometria organica, sive descriptio linearum curvarum universalis (1720), A treatise of fluxions (1742), and Account of the philosophical discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton . In 1745 he was involved in the construction of defences in Edinburgh against the advancing Jacobites and when the city was occupied he escaped to England where he fell ill. Colin Maclaurin died on 14 June 1746.
From the guide to the Lectures and Correspondence of Professor Colin MacLaurin (1698-1746), 18th century, (Edinburgh University Library)
