Robert Simson

Memorial to Robert Simson in West Kilbride cemetery. The memorial plate reads "To Dr. Robert Simson of the University of Glasgow, the Restorer of Grecian Geometry; and by his works, the great promoter of its study in the Schools. A Native of this Parish." Robert Simson (14 October 1687 – 1 October 1768) was a Scottish mathematician and professor of mathematics at the University of Glasgow. The Simson line is named after him.

Biography Robert Simson was born on 14 October 1687, probably the eldest of the seventeen children, all male, of John Simson, a Glasgow merchant, and Agnes, daughter of Patrick Simpson, minister of Renfrew; only six of them reached adulthood.

Simson matriculated at the University of Glasgow in 1701, intending to enter the Church. He followed the course in the faculty of arts (Latin, Greek, logic, natural philosophy) and then concentrated on studying theology and Semitic languages.

During his time at Glasgow Simson noted in 1753 that, as the Fibonacci numbers increased in magnitude, the ratio between adjacent numbers approached the golden ratio, whose value is

As for the man himself, "Simson appears to have been tall and of good stature. In spite of his great scholarship he was a modest, unassuming man who was very cautious in promoting his own work. He enjoyed good company and presided over the weekly meetings of a dining club that he had instituted … He had a special interest in botany, in which he was an acknowledged expert".

Robert Simson did not marry. He died, aged 80, in his college residence at Glasgow on 1 October 1768, and was interred in the Blackfriars Burying Ground (now known as Ramshorn Cemetery), where, in the south wall, is placed to his memory a plain marble tablet, with a highly and justly complimentary inscription". Simson's library, including some of his own works, was bequeathed to the university on his death. It consists of about 850 printed books, mainly early mathematical and astronomical texts.

Subscriptions towards the erection of a monument to Dr Simson were collected in 1865, with the Senate of the College of Glasgow, the (thirteenth) Earl of Eglinton and Winton, and the Earl Stanhope each donating £10; and John Carrick Moore – the first cousin twice removed of Robert Simson – giving £15. The memorial, designed by Frederick Thomas Pilkington, is "a large octagonal monument with carved Egyptian details, topped with a ball finial". It is situated on a hilltop in West Kilbride cemetery.

Works

Simson's contributions to mathematical knowledge took the form of critical editions and commentaries on the works of the ancient geometers.