Samuel Foster

For other people named Samuel Foster, seeSamuel Foster (disambiguation).

Samuel Foster(c.1600 – July 1652) was anEnglishmathematicianandastronomer.He made several observations ofeclipses,both of the sun and moon, atGresham Collegeand in other places; and he was known particularly for inventing and improving planetary instruments.

Life

A native ofNorthamptonshire,he was admitted asizaratEmmanuel College, Cambridgeon 23 April 1616, as a member of which he proceeded B.A. in 1619, and M.A. in 1623.On the death ofHenry Gellibrand,he was electedGresham Professor of Astronomyon 2 March 1636, but resigned later in the year and was succeeded byMungo Murray.In 1641, Murray having vacated the professorship by his marriage, Foster was re-elected on 26 May.

During the civil war and Commonwealth he was one of the society of gentlemen who met inLondonfor cultivating the 'new philosophy,' in the group aroundCharles Scarburgh.In 1646John Wallisreceived from Foster a theorem onspherical triangles(two antipodal triangles, that is two triangles formed from corresponding antipodal vertices, are congruent) which he afterwards published in hisMechanica.Wallis's retrospective account of the origins of theRoyal Societymade Foster's lectures a rendezvous of the London-based Scarburgh-Jonathan Goddardgroup; but it is disputed to what extent this connection was withGresham Collegeand its tradition, rather than simply the location.

Foster died at Gresham College in May 1652, and was buried in the church ofSt. Peter the Poorin Broad Street.

Works

He published little himself, but many treatises written by him were printed after his death, thoughJohn TwysdenandEdmund Wingate,his editors, state that long illness caused them to be left very imperfect, and Twysden complains that some people had taken advantage of his liberality by publishing his works as their own (Preface to Foster'sMiscellanies). In the following list of Foster's works, only the first two were published before his death:

• The Use of the Quadrant,London, 1624. An octavo edition was published soon after the author's death in 1652 by A. Thompson, who says in his preface that the additional lines were invented, and the uses written, for an 'appendix' toEdmund Gunter's 'Quadrant;' only a few copies were printed alone for Foster's friends. It was republished in the 5th edition ofThe Works of Edmund Gunter(1673, pp. 129–164).
• The Art of Dialling; by a new, easie, and most speedy way,London, 1638. (transcript from EEBO) Asecond editionpublished in 1675, has several additions and variations taken from the author's own manuscript, and also a 'Supplement' by the editor,William Leybourn.John Collinspublished in 1659Geometrical Dyalling, being a full explication of divers difficulties in the works of learned Mr. Samuel Foster(transcript from EEBO).
• Posthuma Fosteri, the description of a ruler, upon which is inscribed divers scales and the uses thereof.[edited by Edmund Wingate], London, 1652. (transcript from EEBO)
• Elliptical or Azimuthal Horologiography,edited by John Twysden and Edmund Wingate, 4 pts, London, 1654. (transcript from EEBO)
  • Elliptical or Azimuthal Horologiography
  • Circular Horologiography
  • Rectilineal or Diametral Horologiography
  • Elliptical Horologiography
• Miscellanea: siue lucubrationes mathematics[Miscellanies: or Mathematical lucubrations], edited by John Twysden, a collection of works by Foster written in English and Latin, some translated by Twysden, with a few intermediate additions by Twysden and a few works by other authors appended by publisherWilliam Leybourn.Latin and English, 19 pts. fol. London, 1659. (alternative scan from e-rara) The sections by Foster are:
  • Stellae Fixae[Catalog of Fixed Stars],
  • Astroscopium
  • De Instrumentis Planetariis[Of the Planetary Instruments]
  • Observationes Eclipsium
  • Ratio facillima Computandi altitudinem Solis horariam ad quamlibet latitudinem[An easie way to calculate Tables of the Suns Horarie altit. for any latitude]
  • Problemata Geometrica Varia[Various Geometrical Problems]
  • Problemata Quaedam succincta condendi Canones Sinuum, Tangentium, & Secantium[Forming Tables of Sines, Tangents, & Secants]
  • Demonstratio Quadrantis Horometrici[Demonstration of a Horometrical Quadrant]
  • Epitome Aristarchi Samii De Magnitudinibus, & Distantiis trium Corporum, Solis, Lunae, & Terrae,epitomeofAristarchus of Samos'sOn the Sizes and Distances
  • Lemmata Archimedis,translation byJohn Greavesof theBook of Lemmas,attributed toArchimedes,from Arabic to Latin, revised by Foster
  • The Geometrical Square
  • Of Projection
  • Precepts Concerning Refracted Dials
• The Sector Altered; and Other Scales Added,an improvement of Gunter's sector, printed inThe Works of Edmund Gunter,4th edition (1662) and 5th edition (1673, pp. 157–195), by William Leybourn, who in the latter edition corrected some mistakes which had appeared in the former from Foster's own manuscript.
• The Description and Use of the Nocturnal[London? 1685?].

Foster left numerous manuscript treatises in addition to those printed by his friends. Of these two were in the possession ofWilliam Jones,F.R.S.:The Uses of a General Quadrant,andSelect Uses of the Quadrant,dated 1649.

References

• Chalmers, Alexander,ed. (1761)."Foster (Samuel)".A New and General Biographical Dictionary.Vol. 5: Faber–Gower. T. Osborne; & al. pp. 167–168.
• Frost, Mike (2006)."Samuel Foster and His Circle".The Antiquarian Astronomer.3:31–48.Bibcode:2006AntAs...3...31F.Retrieved1 November2015.
• Goodwin, Gordon (1889)."Foster, Samuel (d. 1652)".InStephen, Leslie(ed.).Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 20: Forrest–Garner. London: Smith, Elder, & Co. pp. 62–63.
• Oldys, William,ed. (1750)."Foster (Samuel)".Biographia Britannica.Vol. 3: Conant–Gastrell. W. Innys; & al. pp. 2009–2012.
• Sawyer, Frederick W. III (1996)."Samuel Foster of Gresham College"(PDF).British Sundial Society Bulletin.97(1): 2–15.
• Ward, John(1740)."Samuel Foster".The Lives of the Professors of Gresham College.London: J. Moore. pp. 85–88.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:"Foster, Samuel".Dictionary of National Biography.London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.