David Gregory

Who was David Gregory?

David Gregory FRS was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer. He was professor of mathematics at the University of Edinburgh, Savilian Professor of Astronomy at the University of Oxford, and a commentator on Isaac Newton's Principia.

The fourth of the fifteen children of David Gregorie, a doctor from Kinnairdy, Banffshire, and Jean Walker of Orchiston, David was born in Upper Kirkgate, Aberdeen. The nephew of astronomer and mathematician James Gregory, David, like his influential uncle before him, studied at Aberdeen Grammar School and Marischal College, from 1671 to 1675, beginning when he was only 12 years old. After his university studies, still only 16 years old, Gregory visited several countries on the continent, including the Netherlands and France, and did not return to Scotland until 1683. At the age of 24 he was appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Edinburgh.

In 1690, during a period of political and religious unrest in Scotland, Gregory decided to leave for England where, in 1691, he was elected Savilian Professor at the University of Oxford, due in large part to the influence of Isaac Newton. The same year he was elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1692, he was elected a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.