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John Keill

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John Keill FRS
Born(1671-12-01)1 December 1671
Edinburgh,Scotland
Died31 August 1721(1721-08-31)(aged 49)
Oxford,England
NationalityScottish
Alma materEdinburgh University
Balliol College, Oxford
Known forDefendingIsaac Newton
Scientific career
FieldsMathematician andastronomer
InstitutionsUniversity of Oxford
Academic advisorsDavid Gregory
Notable studentsBrook Taylor
John Theophilus Desaguliers[1]
Notes
He is the brother of physicianJames Keill.

John KeillFRS(1 December 1671 – 31 August 1721) was a Scottish mathematician, natural philosopher, and cryptographer who was an important defender ofIsaac Newton.

Biography

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Keill was born inEdinburgh,Scotland on 1 December 1671. His father was Robert Keill, anEdinburghlawyer. His mother was Sarah Cockburn. His brother,James Keill,became a noted physician.

Keill studied atEdinburgh UniversityunderDavid Gregory.In 1692, he obtained his bachelor's degree with a distinction inphysicsandmathematics.Keill then attendedBalliol College, Oxford,obtaining an MA on 2 February 1694. After being appointed a lecturer in experimental philosophy atHart Hall,Keill started giving lectures and performing experiments based on Newton's findings. He instructed his students on thelaws of motion,the principles ofhydrostaticsandoptics,and Newtonian propositions on light and colours.

In 1698, Keill publishedExamination of Dr. Burnet's Theory of the Earth.His volume contained scientific attacks on Burnet,René Descartes,Baruch Spinoza,Thomas Hobbes andNicolas Malebranche.This publication, along with his teaching, gained Keill notice in the English academic community. In 1700, he was elected aFellow of the Royal Society.However, after failing to get an academic appointment at Oxford in 1709, Keill left the university to seek a government position.

In 1709, Keill was appointed treasurer of a charitable fund to resettlewar refugeesfrom the German states. He accompanied at least one group of German refugees to the BritishProvince of New York.

In 1711, Keill accepted the position ofdecypherertoAnne, Queen of Great Britain.His responsibilities included explaining old manuscripts to the sovereign. In 1712, Keill returned to Oxford asSavilian Professor of Astronomy.On 9 July 1713, he was awarded the DM degree.[2]

In his later years, Keill became involved in the controversy regardingGottfried Leibniz's alleged plagiarisation of Newton's invention ofcalculus,serving as Newton's chief defender. However, Newton himself eventually grew tired of Keill as he stirred up too much trouble.

In 1717, Keill married Mary Clements, a woman 25 years his junior and the daughter of an Oxfordbookbinder.The marriage created great scandal at the time as Clements was from a lower class.[3]

On 31 August 1721, Keill died in London from a sudden illness, possiblyfood poisoning.It was stated in the oldDictionary of National Biographythat Keill left no will. His will is referenced in theOxford Dictionary of National Biographyand is held byThe National Archives.[4][3]It was executed on 12 January 1720 and was proved in thePrerogative CourtofCanterburyin October 1721. He spent £500 to his household furniture and plate to his wife and his books, instruments and other money in trust for his son.

  • 1730 copy of Keill's "An Introduction to the True Astronomy"
    1730 copy of Keill's "An Introduction to the True Astronomy"
  • Title page to "An Introduction to the True Astronomy"
    Title page to "An Introduction to the True Astronomy"
  • First page of "An Introduction to the True Astronomy"
    First page of "An Introduction to the True Astronomy"

Principal publications

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  • An Examination of Dr. Burnet's Theory of the Earth.Oxford: 1698.
  • Introductio ad Veram Physicam seu Lectiones Physicae.Oxford: Thomas Bennet, 1702.
  • Trigonometriae Planae & Sphaericae Elementa.Oxford: Henry Clements, 1715.
  • Item de Natura et Arithmetica Logarithmorum tractatus brevis.Oxford: Henry Clements, 1715.
  • Introductio ad Veram Astronomiam seu Lectiones Astronomicae.Oxford: Henry Clements, 1718.

Keill's publisher at Oxford, Henry Clements, sometimes bound Keill'sTrigonometriaeandLogarithmorumwith Federico Commandino's translation ofEuclid's Elements.This volume appeared as:Euclidis Elementorum Libri Priores Sex.Oxford: Henry Clements, 1715.

After Keill's death, the Verbeek brothers collected Keill's work into a single volume. This volume appeared as:Introductiones ad veram Physicam et veram Astronomiam.Leiden: Jan en Hermanus Verbeek, 1725. This book also contained Keill's long papersDe Legibus Virium CentripetarumandDe Legibus Attractionis, aliisque Physices Principiis.

All of these works were very popular; they appeared in England and the Continent in many editions from many publishers, in Latin, English, and Dutch.

Editions

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  • Introductiones ad veram physicam et veram astronomiam(in Latin). Leiden: Johannes Verbeek & Hermanus Verbeek. 1739.
  • Introduction to the true astronomy, or, astronomical lectures, read in the astronomical school of the University of Oxford(in French). Paris: Hippolyte-Louis Guérin & Jacques Guérin. 1746.

References

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  1. ^Jeffrey R. Wigelsworth, "Competing to Popularize Newtonian Philosophy: John Theophilus Desaguliers and the Preservation of Reputation",Isis,2003,94:435–455.
  2. ^"Fellow details".Royal Society.Retrieved24 January2017.
  3. ^abTNA,Will of Doctor John Keill or Keil, Doctor of Physic and Astronomy, Professor in Oxford.
  4. ^Henry, John. "Keill, John".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15256.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
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