Colin Maclaurin

Colin Maclaurin
Colin Maclaurin (1698–1746)
Born	1 February 1698 Kilmodan, Cowal, Argyll, Scotland
Died	14 June 1746 (aged 48) Edinburgh, Scotland
Residence	Scotland
Citizenship	Great Britain
Nationality	Scottish
Fields	Mathematician
Institutions	University of Aberdeen University of Edinburgh
Alma mater	University of Glasgow
Academic advisors	Robert Simson
Notable students	Robert Adam
Known for	Euler–Maclaurin formula Maclaurin's inequality Maclaurin series Integral test for convergence
Notable awards	Académie des Sciences, Grand Prize

Colin Maclaurin (/məˈklɔːrən/; Scottish Gaelic: Cailean MacLabhruinn; 1 February 1698 – 14 June 1746) was a Scottish mathematician who made important contributions to geometry and algebra. The Maclaurin series, a special case of the Taylor series, is named after him.

Owing to changes in orthography since that time (his name was originally rendered as “M‘Laurine”), his surname is alternatively written MacLaurin.

Maclaurin was born in Kilmodan, Argyll. His father, Reverend and Minister of Glendaruel John Maclaurin, died when Maclaurin was in infancy, and his mother died before he reached nine years of age. He was then educated under the care of his uncle, the Reverend Daniel Maclaurin, minister of Kilfinan.

At eleven, Maclaurin entered the University of Glasgow. He graduated MA three years later by defending a thesis on the Power of Gravity, and remained at Glasgow to study divinity until he was 19, when he was elected professor of mathematics in a ten-day competition at the Marischal College in the University of Aberdeen. This record as the world's youngest professor endured until March 2008, when the record was officially given to Alia Sabur.

In the vacations of 1719 and 1721, Maclaurin went to London, where he became acquainted with Sir Isaac Newton, Dr Benjamin Hoadly, Samuel Clarke, Martin Folkes, and other philosophers. He was admitted a member of the Royal Society.