John Keill

Infobox Scientist
name = John Keill
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caption = John Keill
birth_date = 1 Dec 1671
birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland
death_date = 31 Aug 1721
death_place = Oxford, England
residence = England
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nationality = Scottish
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field = Mathematician and astronomer
work_institutions = University of Oxford
alma_mater = Edinburgh University
Balliol College, Oxford
doctoral_advisor = David Gregory
doctoral_students = Brook Taylor
John Theophilus Desaguliers [ [http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/380653 "Isis", 2003, 94: 435–455] ]
known_for = Defending Isaac Newton
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footnotes = He is the brother of physicist James Keill.

John Keill (1 Dec 1671 - 31 Aug 1721) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was primarily a mathematician and important disciple of Isaac Newton. He studied at Edinburgh University, under David Gregory, and obtained his bachelors degree in 1692 with a distinction in physics and mathematics. Keill then attended Balliol College, Oxford obtaining an MA on 2 February, 1694.

Keill claimed that Leibniz plagiarized Newton's invention of calculus and he served as Newton's chief defender.However, Newton, himself, eventually grew tired of Keill as he stirred up too much trouble.

In 1715, Keill published a book on trigonometry and logarithms called, "Euclides Elementorum Libri Priores Sex." He also wrote on forces between particles and on theories of the origin of the universe. His lectures are published in Leiden, 1725, in a book called "Introductio ad Veram".

His marriage in 1717, to Mary Clements, created great scandal at the time as she was from a lower class. The possible attraction to her was that she was 25 years younger.

External links

* [http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Keill.html Keill's MacTutor biography]
* [http://icarus.umkc.edu/sandbox/lhl/dsb/page.275.php Dictionary of National Biography on Keill]

References