James Ivory (scientist)
From QueerBio.com
Contents
Country
Scotland
Birth - Death
1765 - 1842
Occupation
Academic
Notable Achievements
FRS
Description
Mathematician, with a specialty in geometry. Founded Ivory's Theorem, in which the family of confocal conics has the property that in each quadrangle formed by two pairs of conics the diagonals are of equal length. Held the mathematical chair in the Royal Military College, Great Marlow. His articles on Attraction and Capillary action were also major contributions to Encyclopaedia Britannica at the time. Winner of the Copley Medal (1814) for his work on the orbit of comets, appointed a Member of the Royal Society (1815), and received a knighthood in 1831. Known for his eccentricity and reclusiveness.
