John Machin to Hans Sloane – November 24, 1729
Item info
Date: November 24, 1729 Author: John Machin Recipient: Hans SloaneLibrary: British Library, London Manuscript: Sloane MS 4050 Folio: f. 238
-
Language
English
-
Library
British Library, London
-
Categories
Patronage, Royal Society, Scholarship, Social
-
Subjects
Astronomy, Books, Engineering
-
Date (as written)
November 24, 1729
-
Standardised date
-
Origin (as written)
-
Others mentioned
George II
-
Patients mentioned
Original Page
Transcription
Machin forwards a draft of a letter he is going to send to an engineer in France. It is based on what was discussed at the previous meeting. Machin ‘read over his [the engineer’s] book more carefully’ and determined the man is ‘slightly skilled in astronomy’. The man wants his discovery, an invention of some sort, sent to England for examination by the Royal Society and given to the King of Great Britain. Machin thinks this to be a pompous request. John Machin (bap. 1686?, d. 1751) was an astronomer. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1710 and served as its Secretary between 1718 and 1747. Machin was on the Royal Society committee that mediated Newton and Leibnitz’s dispute over the invention of calculus. Some of his mathematical work was published in the Philosophical Transactions (Anita McConnell, ‘Machin, John (bap. 1686?, d. 1751)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17533, accessed 19 Aug 2014]).
Patient Details
-
Patient info
Name: N/A
Gender:
Age: -
Description
-
Diagnosis
-
Treatment
Previous Treatment:
Ongoing Treatment:
Response: -
More information
-
Medical problem reference