Mathematician:William Neile

Mathematician

English mathematician whose most important work was on the rectification of the semicubical parabola, which was an important stage in the development of calculus.

Nationality

English

History

• Born: 16 Dec 1637, Bishopsthorpe (near York), England
• 1652: Entered Wadham College, Oxford
• 1655: Matriculated
• 1657: Became the first person to find the arc length of an algebraic curve, by his rectification of the semicubical parabola
• 7 Jan 1663: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
• 11 April 1666: Became a member of the Council of the Royal Society
• 29 April 1669: Presented Hypothesis of Motion to the Royal Society
• Died: 24 Aug 1670, White Waltham, Berkshire, England

Theorems and Definitions

• Neile's Parabola (also known as the Semicubical Parabola or the Cuspidal Cubic)

Definitions of concepts named for William Neile can be found here.

Publications

• 1659: Contribution towards John Wallis's De Cycloide et de Corporibus inde Genitis
• 1669: Hypothesis of Motion

Also known as

His surname sometimes rendered as Neil.

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "William Neile": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive