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Authorised form of nameHellins; John (? 1749 - 1827)
Dates? 1749 - 1827
Date of birth? 1749
Place of deathPotterspury, Northamptonshire
Date of death05 April 1827
OccupationClergyman
Research fieldMathematics
Astronomy
ActivityEducation:
Trinity College, Cambridge. BD (1800)
Career:
Apprenticed to a cooper; worked as a cooper (until age 20); taught himself mathematics; master of a small school, Bishop's Tawton; Assistant, Royal Observatory, Greenwich under Nevil Maskelyne (1773-1776); took Holy Orders; Curate of Constantine, Cornwall (1779-1783); Curate, Greens Norton, Northamptonshire (1783-1790); Vicar of Potterspury, Northamptonshire (1790-1827); founded a school (now named after him), Potterspury (1817)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election22/12/1796
RSActivityMedals and prizes:
Copley Medal 1799
RelationshipsSon of a labourer of Ashreigney, near Chulmleigh, Devon
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
References:
M Croarken, 'Astronomical labourers: Maskelyne's assistants at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1765 - 1811' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 285 - 298
CodeNA3019
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
MM/7/94'An extract from a letter of the Rev Mr John Hellins, formerly Assistant to Mr (now Dr) Maskelyne, the Astronomer-Royal at Greenwich Observatory, to Francis Maseres, Esq'c.1792
L&P/7/261Paper, 'New method of finding the equal roots of an equation by division' by John Hellins9 February 1782
L&P/7/148Paper, 'A theorum for computing logarithms' by John Hellins13 May 1780
L&P/10/83Paper, 'Dr Halley's quadature of the circle improved' by John Hellins30 April 1794
L&P/12/35Paper, 'Of the rectification of the conic sections' by John Hellins19 March 1802
L&P/10/139Paper, 'Hyperbolic logarithm of 10' by John Hellins24 June 1795
EC/1796/17Hellins, John: certificate of election to the Royal Society
L&P/11/10Letter, 'Account of a thunderstorm on the 4 April 1796' from John Hellins to Nevil Maskelyne1796
L&P/11/48Letter, 'A new method of computing the value of a slowly converging series of which all the terms are affirmative' from John Hellins to Nevil Maskelyne1798
L&P/11/69Letter, 'An improved solution of a problem in physical astronomy...also an appendix containing an easy method of obtaining the sums of many slowly converging series which arise in taking the fluents of binomial surds' from John Hellins to Nevil Maskelyne17 April 1797
L&P/11/109Letter, 'Second appendix to the paper on improved solution of a problem in Physical Astronomy' from John Hellins to Nevil Maskelyne27 September 1799
PT/5/7Paper, 'On the rectification of the hyperbola by means of two ellipses; proving that method to be circuitous, and such as requires much more calculation than is requisite by an appropriate theorem: in which process a new theorem for the rectification of that curve is discovered' by Rev John Hellins[1811]
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