| Authorised form of name | Stirling; James (1692 - 1770) |
| Other forms of surname | Sterling |
| Dates | 1692 - 1770 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Garden, Stirlingshire, Scotland |
| Date of birth | 1692 |
| Place of death | Edinburgh |
| Date of death | 05 December 1770 |
| Occupation | Teacher |
| Research field | Mathematics |
| Mining |
| Activity | Education:
Glasgow; Balliol College, Oxford (matriculated 1711; expelled 1715 for corresponding with notorious Jacobites)
Career:
Travelled to Venice, home of his patron, Niccolo Troni (FRS 1715), where he made the acquaintance of Nicholas Bernoulli (FRS 1714); discovered the secret of Venetian glass-making and, in fear of his life, returned to England with the assistance of Sir Isaac Newton (FRS 1672) and became a teacher, later a partner, lecturing on mathematics at Watt's Academy in Little Tower Street, Covent Garden London (1725-1735); Manager of the Scots Mining Company at Leadhills, Lanarkshire (1735); surveyed the Clyde with a view to making it navigable
Memberships:
Berlin Academy (1748)
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 03/11/1726 |
| Proposer | John Arbuthnot |
| Sir Alexander Cuming |
| Other Royal Society activity | In printed list to 1753; resigned (1754) |
| Relationships | Son of Archibald Stirling, gent, of St Ninian's, Stirling, and his second wife, Anna, daughter of Sir Alexander Hamilton of Hoggs, near Linlithgow; married Barbara Watson of Thirtyacres, near Stirling |
| PublishedWorks | Methodus Differentialis: sive Tractatus de Summatione et Interpolatione Serierum Infinitorum (London, 1730) |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; Foster
References:
Gentleman's Magazine 1770, p591 (obituary)
Charles Tweedie 'James Stirling: a sketch of his life and works alond with his scientific correspondence' (Oxford, 1922)
Ian Tweddle 'James Stirling's Methodus Differentialis: An Annotated Translation of Stirling's Text (Springer-Verlag London Limited, 2003) |
| Code | NA1068 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1909/01 | Hale, George Ellery: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| RBO/18/56 | 'Twelve Propositions concerning the figure of the Earth' by James Stirling | 1733 |
| L&P/1/372 | Letter, 'Of a contrivance for blowing a fire by falling water' from James Stirling to the Secretary of the Royal Society | 20 March 1745 |
| NLB/57 | New Letter Book volume 57, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration | 27 June 1919-27 February 1920 |
| L&P/4/145 | Letter, 'Of a remarkable darkness on 19 October' from James Stirling to John Duncan | 25 October 1762 |
| MC/34/181 | Letter from Charles Tweedie, 15 Woodhall Terrace, Juniper Green, Midlothian, to the [Royal Society] | 9 July 1919 |
| NLB/57/74 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Charles Tweedie, Esq., [FRSA] | 14 July 1919 |