| Authorised form of name | Cotes; Roger (1682 - 1716) |
| Other forms of surname | Coates |
| Dates | 1682 - 1716 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Burbage, Leicestershire, England |
| Date of birth | 10 July 1682 |
| Place of death | Cambridge |
| Date of death | 05 June 1716 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
Chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Clergyman, Church of England |
| Research field | Mathematics |
| Astronomy |
| Activity | Education:
Leicester School; pupil of his uncle, the Rev John Smith; St Paul's School; Trinity College, Cambridge. BA (1702-3), MA (1706)
Career:
Fellow of Trinity (1705); Tutor to the sons of the Marquis (later Duke) of Kent; as a student, came to the notice of Isaac Newton (FRS 1672), Richard Bentley (FRS 1695) and William Whiston, Lucasian Professor, who proposed him as first Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Natural Philosophy (1707-1716); ordained deacon and priest (1713); assisted Newton in the re-issue of the 'Principia'; founded an observatory at Trinity with the help of Bentley; died of a violent fever
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 30/11/1711 |
| Relationships | Son of Robert Cotes, Rector of Burbage, Leicestershire, and his wife, Grace, daughter of Major Farmer of Barwell, Leicestershire; cousin of Robert Smith (FRS 1719); unmarried |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; Taylor
References:
A Rupert Hall, 'Cambridge: Newton's legacy' in NR 2001 vol 55 pp 205-226
G J Whitrow, 'Newton's Role in the History of Mathematics' in NR 1989 vol 43 pp 71-92
A Rupert Hall, 'Newton and His Editors. The Wilkins Lecture, 1973' in NR 1974-5 vol 29 pp 29-52, plate
L B Glyn, 'Israel Lyons: a short but starry career. The life of an eighteenth-century Jewish botanist and astronomer' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 275-305
B Bradley 'Newton's Gift to Roger Cotes' NR 2012 vol 66 number 2, pages 159-168
Notes:
Venn states that he was buried in All Saints', Cambridge, DNB that he was buried in Trinity Chapel. |
| Code | NA8185 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| MS/390/157 | Bond of Roger Cotes to the Treasurer of the Royal Society | 20 May 1714 |
| PT/7/2 | Paper, 'On a remarkable application of Cotes's theorem' by J F W [John Frederick William] Herschel | 6 October 1812 |
| EL/C2/47 | Letter, from Roger Cotes [to the Royal Society], dated at Cambridge | 5 March 1716 |
| CLP/22ii/5 | Paper, Account of the book 'Harmonia mensurarum sive analysis et synthesis per rationum .... [The harmony of measure, or analysis and synthesis through reasoning...]' by Roger Cotesius [Cotes], edited by Robert Smith | [1723] |