Sir Henry Billingsley (d. November 22, 1606) was Lord Mayor of London and the first translator of Euclid into English. Events 498 - Kofi Aseidu- After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of (and head of the City of London Corporation. Euclid ( Greek:.) fl 300 BC also known as Euclid of Alexandria, is often referred to as the Father of Geometry He entered St. John's College, Cambridge and also studied at Oxford, where, under the tutelage of a former Augustinian friar named Whytehead, he developed an interest in mathematics. St John's College, an institution known formally as The Master Fellows and Scholars of the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge is a The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the He did not take a degree but apprenticed to a London merchant.
In 1570, Billingsley published his translation of Euclid, The elements of geometrie of the most ancient philosopher Euclide of Megara. Euclid ( Greek:.) fl 300 BC also known as Euclid of Alexandria, is often referred to as the Father of Geometry Euclid of Megara, a Greek Socratic Philosopher who lived around 400 BC founded the Megarian school of philosophy. (Actually, it should have been Euclid of Alexandria; the two Euclids were frequently confused in the Renaissance. ) The work included a lengthy preface by John Dee, which surveyed all the existing branches of pure and applied mathematics. John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609 was a noted English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, occultist Dee also provided copious notes and other supplementary material. The work was printed in folio by John Day, and included several three-dimensional fold-up diagrams illustrating solid geometry. For the soul singer see Johnny Daye John Day or Daye ( c 1522 &ndash 23 July 1584 was an English Though not the very first, it was one of the first books to include such a feature.
The translation, renowned for its clarity and accuracy, was made from the Greek rather than the well-known Latin translation of Campanus. Augustus De Morgan has suggested that the translation was solely the work of Dee, but in his correspondence Dee states specifically that only the introduction and the supplementary material were his. Augustus De Morgan ( 27 June, 1806 &ndash 18 March, 1871) was a British Mathematician and Logician. Anthony Wood asserted that the translation was largely the work of Whytehead, who spent his final years at Billingsley's house. Anthony Wood or Anthony à Wood ( 17 December 1632 &ndash 28 November 1695) was an English antiquary. Whytehead did apparently provide some assistance, but there is no evidence that the work is all his; Wood frequently reported gossip as fact. Billingsley's copy of Euclid found its way to Princeton College and Halsted described it, putting to rest the claims that the translation had been made from the Latin and that it was not Billingsley's own work.
Billingsley prospered as a merchant. He married in 1572, was made sheriff in 1584 and alderman of Tower Ward in 1585. SHERIFF is a telecom fraud detection and management system originally developed by BT and MCI. An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions He became one of Elizabeth's four customs collectors in 1589. In 1596, he succeeded Sir Thomas Skinner as Lord Mayor of London. He was knighted the following year. In 1603, he sat in Parliament for London. He founded three scholarships for poor students at St. John's College and served as President of St. Thomas's Hospital. Though in the introduction of his Euclid he proposed to undertake other translations, he never did so.
Bibliography
- Anita McConnell, ‘Billingsley, Sir Henry (d. 1606)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
- Diana M. Simpkins Early editions of Euclid in England, Annals of Science, Volume 22, Number 4, December 1966.
- George Bruce Halsted Note on the First English Euclid, American Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 2, No. 1. (Mar. , 1879), pp. 46-48.
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