John Playfair

Mathematician, Author

1748 – 1819

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Who was John Playfair?

John Playfair FRSE, FRS was a Scottish scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is perhaps best known for his book Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth, which summarised the work of James Hutton. It was through this book that Hutton's principle of uniformitarianism, later taken up by Charles Lyell, first reached a wide audience. Playfair is also remembered for his proposal of an alternative to Euclid's parallel postulate.

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Born
Mar 10, 1748
Angus
Siblings
Children
Nationality
  • Scotland
Profession
Education
  • University of St Andrews
Died
Jul 20, 1819
Burntisland

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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