Sang

Edward Sang

Born: 30 Jan 1805 in Scotland
Died: 23 Dec 1890

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Sang was taught by Leslie and Wallace at Edinburgh and became a surveyor and civil engineer, then taught mathematics in Edinburgh. He became Leslie's assistant and, in 1841, became Professor of Mechanical Science in Manchester New College, but soon thereafter went to Constantinople to help establish schools of civil engineering and plan railroads and ironworks in Turkey. There, he gained great fame by accurately predicting eclipses and so dispelling superstition.

Sang returned to Edinburgh to teach mathematics in 1854. He published many papers on a remarkable range of topics in mathematics and its practical applications and was awarded various prizes by learned bodies.

A latter-day Napier, he is best known for his massive compilations of logarithms and actuarial tables. Over 40 years, intermittently, he calculated the most accurate tables of logarithms, mostly unpublished, and unused, in 47 manuscript volumes.

References:

  1. D Peebles, Obituary of Edward Sang, Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh 21 (1897), 17-32.
  2. C G Knott, Edward Sang and his logarithmic calculations, Napier Tercentenary Memorial Volume (London, 1915), 261-268.
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JOC/EFR February 1996