Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

GREAVES, JOHN (1602–1652)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 423 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

GREAVES, See also:JOHN (1602–1652) , See also:English mathematician and See also:antiquary, was the eldest son of John Greaves, See also:rector of See also:Cole-more, near Alresford in See also:Hampshire. He was educated at Balliol See also:College, See also:Oxford, and in 1630 was chosen See also:professor of See also:geometry in See also:Gresham College, See also:London. After travelling in See also:Europe, he visited the See also:East in 1637, where he collected a considerable number of Arabic, See also:Persian and See also:Greek See also:manuscripts, and made a more accurate survey of the pyramids of See also:Egypt than any traveller who had preceded him. On his return to Europe he visited a second See also:time several parts of See also:Italy, and during his stay at See also:Rome instituted inquiries into the See also:ancient weights and See also:measures. In 1643 he was appointed to the Savilian professorship of See also:astronomy at Oxford, but he was deprived of his Gresham professorship for having neglected its duties. In 1645 he essayed a See also:reformation of the See also:calendar, but his See also:plan was not adopted. In 1648 he lost both his fellowship and his Savilian See also:chair on See also:account of his adherence to the royalist party. But his private See also:fortune more than sufficed for all his wants till his See also:death on the 8th of See also:October 1652. Besides his papers in the Philosophical Transactions, the See also:principal See also:works of Greaves are Pyramidographia, or a Description of tke Pyramids in Egypt (1646); A Discourse on the See also:Roman See also:Foot and Denarius (1649); and Elementa linguae Persicae (1649). His See also:miscellaneous works were published in 1737 by Dr See also:Thomas See also:Birch, with a See also:biographical See also:notice of the author. See also See also:Smith's Vita quorundam erudit. virorum and See also:Ward's Gresham Professors.

End of Article: GREAVES, JOHN (1602–1652)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
GREATHEAD, JAMES HENRY (1844–1896)
[next]
GREBE (Fr. grebe)