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PEACOCK, GEORGE (1791–1858)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 21 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PEACOCK, See also:GEORGE (1791–1858) , See also:English mathematician, was See also:born at See also:Thornton See also:Hall, See also:Denton, near See also:Darlington, on the 9th of See also:April 1791. He was educated at See also:Richmond, See also:Yorkshire, and entered Trinity See also:College, See also:Cambridge, in 1809. He was second wrangler in 1812 (See also:Sir J. F. W. See also:Herschel being See also:senior), was elected See also:fellow of his college in 1814, became assistant See also:tutor in 1815 and full tutor in 1823. While still an undergraduate he formed a See also:league with See also:John Herschel and See also:Charles See also:Babbage, to conduct the famous struggle of " d-ism versus dot-See also:age," which ended in the introduction into Cambridge of the See also:continental notation in the infinitesimal calculus to the exclusion of the fluxional notation of Sir See also:Isaac See also:Newton. This was an important reform, not so much on See also:account of the See also:mere See also:change of notation (for mathematicians follow J. L. See also:Lagrange in using both these notations), but because it signified the opening to the mathematicians of Cambridge of the vast storehouse of continental discoveries. The See also:analytical society thus formed in 1813 published various See also:memoirs, and translated S. F.

See also:

Lacroix's See also:Differential Calculus in 1816. Peacock powerfully aided the See also:movement by See also:publishing in 182o A Collection of Examples of the Application of the Differential and Integral Calculus. In x841 he published a pamphlet on the university statutes, in which he indicated the See also:necessity for reform; and in r85oand 1855 he was a member of the See also:commission of inquiry relative to the university of Cambridge. In 1837 he was appointed Lowndean See also:professor of See also:astronomy. In 1839 he took the degree of D.D., and the same See also:year was appointed by See also:Lord See also:Melbourne to the deanery of See also:Ely. Peacock threw himself with characteristic ardour into the duties of this new position. He improved the sanitation of Ely, published in 184o Observations on Plans for See also:Cathedral Reform, and carried out extensive See also:works of restoration in his own cathedral. He was twice See also:prolocutor of the See also:lower See also:house of See also:convocation for the See also:province of See also:Canterbury. He was also a See also:prime mover in the See also:establishment of the Cambridge Astronomical See also:Observatory, and in the See also:founding of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. He was a fellow of the Royal, Royal Astronomical, See also:Geological and other scientific See also:societies. In 1838, and again in 1843, he was one of the commissioners for See also:standards of weights and See also:measures; and he also furnished valuable See also:information to the commissioners on decimal coinage. He died on the 8th of See also:November 1858.

Peacock's See also:

original contributions to mathematical See also:science were concerned chiefly with the See also:philosophy of its first principles. He did See also:good service in systematizing the operational See also:laws of See also:algebra, and in throwing See also:light upon the nature and use of imaginaries. He published, first in 183o, and then in an enlarged See also:form in 1842, a See also:Treatise on Algebra, in which he applied his philosophical ideas concerning algebraical See also:analysis to the elucidation of its elements. A second See also:great service was the publication in the See also:British Association Reports for 1833 of his " See also:Report on the See also:Recent Progress and See also:Present See also:State of certain branches of Analysis." See also:Modern mathematicians may find on See also:reading this brilliant See also:summary a good many dicta which they will See also:call in question, but, whatever its defects may be, Peacock's report remains a See also:work of permanent value. In 1855 he published a memoir of See also:Thomas See also:Young, and about the same See also:time there appeared Young's collected works in three volumes, for the first two of which Peacock was responsible.

End of Article: PEACOCK, GEORGE (1791–1858)

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