Braikenridge

William Braikenridge

Born: 1700
Died: 1762

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Braikenridge was a clergyman who worked on geometry and discovered independently many of the same results as Maclaurin. In particular he discovered the theorem:

If the sides of a polygon are restricted so that they pass through fixed points and all the vertices except one lie on fixed straight lines, the free vertex will describe a conic or a straight line .

This appeared in 1735 and there was then a dispute regarding priority with Maclaurin. Braikenridge claimed to have discovered the theorem and many other results in 1726 when he was living in Edinburgh and told Maclaurin of them. An argument followed and the correspondence is preserved.

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. M Cantor, Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik III (Leipzig, 1894-98), 761-766, 773. 
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JOC/EFR February 1996