John Playfair
Scottish minister and scientist (1748–1819)
Biography
John Playfair FRSE, FRS (10 March 1748 – 20 July 1819) was a Church of Scotland minister, remembered as a scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his book Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth (1802), which summarised the work of James Hutton. It was through this book that Hutton's principle of uniformitarianism, later taken up by Charles Lyell, first reached a wide audience. Playfair's textbook Elements of Geometry made a brief expression of Euclid's parallel postulate known now as Playfair's axiom.
In 1783 he was a co-founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He served as General Secretary to the society 1798–1819.
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Career highlights
Career & roles
- parson
Employers / organisations
- University of Edinburgh
- Adam Ferguson
Notable works
- XIII. Remarks on the Astronomy of the Brahmins
- Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth
- Playfair's axiom
Family
- Siblings
- James PlayfairWilliam Playfair
Awards & honours (2)
- Fellow of the Royal Society
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Quick answers about John Playfair
- How old was John Playfair?
- John Playfair died on July 20, 1819 at the age of 71.
- When is John Playfair's birthday?
- John Playfair was born on March 10, 1748.
- Where was John Playfair born?
- John Playfair was born in Dundee.
- What is John Playfair's zodiac sign?
- John Playfair's zodiac sign is Pisces.
- What is John Playfair's nationality?
- John Playfair is a citizen of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
- What does John Playfair do?
- John Playfair is known as mathematician, geologist, physicist, naturalist.
