Person Keill; John (1671 - 1721); mathematician; natural philosopher Keill John mathematician; natural philosopher Joannis 1671 - 1721 British Male Edinburgh, Scotland 01 December 1671 16711201 Holywell Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England 31 August 1721 17230831 Burial: St Mary's Church, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England (2 September 1721)

Gray's Inn, London (1718) Holywell Street, Oxford (1721)

Mathematician Physics Mathematics Education: Edinburgh under David Gregory (FRS 1692); MA; Incorporated at Oxford (1694); Balliol College, Oxford. BMed, DMed (1713) Career: Lecturer in Experimental Philosophy at Hart Hall, Oxford; Deputy to the Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy (1699); Treasurer of the Palatines (1709); took refugees from the Palatinate to New England, returning (1711); Decipherer to Queen Anne and George I (1712-1716); Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford (1712-death); defended Newton against charges of plagiarism by Leibniz; died of a violent fever. Parents: Robert Keill and Sarah Cockburn (d. 1697) Siblings: James Keill (FRS 1712) Spouse: Mary or Moll (née Clements) (b. c.1696) (1717) Children: James Keill Important defender of Isaac Newton and disseminator of Newtonian principles. Following his appointment as lecturer in experimental Philosophy at Hart Hall, Keill began giving lectures and performing experiments based on Newton's findings, instructing his students on the laws of motion, principles of hydrostatics & optics, and Newtonian propositions on light and colours. He became involved in the famous Newton calculus plagiarism controversy, alleged by Gottfried Liebniz. He defended Newton's Principia mathematica against a criticism levelled at it by Johann Bernoulli (Philosophical Transactions, July–September, 1714). Fellow 30/11/1700 29 Council: 1713 Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; Thomas; Eloy References: H E Bell, 'The Savilian Professors' Houses and Halley's Observatory at Oxford' in NR 1961 vol 16 pp 179-186 Sir Alan Cook, 'The 350th Anniversary of the Birth of G W Leibniz, FRS' in NR 1996 vol 50 pp 153-163 J P Zinsser, 'The ultimate commentary: a consideration of I Bernhard Cohen's Guide to Newton's Principia' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 231-238 Notes: According to Hunter, he was admitted in 1702. As he was also known as Joannis Keill, some works in the Transaions do not appear under the search using his auuthorised form of name. Works attributed to Joannis Keill can be found here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstl.1714.0013 International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/action/doSearch?AllField=john+Keill&startPage=&ContribRaw=Keill%2C%20John RCN 46949 RCN 46947 RCN 46948 RCN 18459 RCN 18460 RCN 46946 RCN 46950 1 Dec 1671 - 31 Aug 1721 The past Fellows entries are under continuous revision. If you have queries or additional information to contribute, please contact Library@royalsociety.org. Content in external sources is not controlled by the Royal Society and historical sources may include content that is now unacceptable. Reviewed on 25/10/2023 as part of the Name Authority Project update. NA5348 21/11/2001 Andyg Pmab 01/11/2023 RS_NET\VidaM Yes 31a63766-fa70-40b7-9bcf-41dcaef930a2