Abraham Robertson

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Abraham Robertson (November 4, 1751 - December 4, 1826), was an English mathematician: He held the Savilian Chair of Geometry at the University of Oxford from 1797 to 1809.

Robertson was born at Duns, Berwickshire, he attended school at Great Ryle in Northumberland, and later at Duns. At age 24 he moved to London, he had hopes of travelling to the East Indies, but his patron died. Instead he chose to go to Oxford, initially without a patron, he gained patronage from John Smith (17211796), the Savilian professor of geometry. Robertson competed a Bachelor of Arts in 1779 and completed his Master in Arts in 1782. In 1784 he began teaching and upon Smith's death became Savilian Chair of Geometry.

In 1795 the Royal Society elected him a fellow in recognition of his work on conic sections.

[edit] Reference

W. F. Sedgwick, Abram (1751-1826), rev. Alan Yoshioka, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004