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Richard C. Maclaurin

{{Short description|American physicist (1870–1920)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Richard Cockburn Maclaurin

| image = Richard Cockburn Maclaurin 1910.jpg

| caption = Maclaurin in 1910

| order = 6th

| title = President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

| term_start = 1909

| term_end = 1920

| predecessor = Arthur Amos Noyes {{small|(acting)}}

| successor = Elihu Thomson {{small|(acting)}}

| birth_date = {{birth date|1870|6|5}}

| birth_place = Selkirk, Scotland

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1920|1|15|1870|6|5}}

| death_place = Cambridge, Massachusetts

| alma_mater = Auckland University College (B.Sc. (Hons), Mathematics, 1890)
BA, 1895 (12th wrangler); LL.D., 1904, St John's College, University of Cambridge.{{acad|id=MLRN892RC|name=Maclaurin, Richard Cockburn}}

| awards = Smith's Prize {{small|(1898)}}

| signature = Signature of Richard Cockburn Maclaurin (1870–1920).png

}}

Richard Cockburn Maclaurin ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|oʊ|b|ər|n}} {{respell|KOH|bərn}}; June 5, 1870 – January 15, 1920){{cite journal|author=Goodwin, H. M. |jstor=20023089 |title=Richard Cockburn Maclaurin (1870–1920)|journal=Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences|volume=69|issue=13 |year=1935|pages=518–521}}[http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/maclaurin-richard-cockburn/1?print66=true "MACLAURIN, Richard Cockburn : (1870–1920) : University teacher and administrator"], the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 22 April 2009. was a Scottish-born U.S. educator and mathematical physicist. He was made president of MIT in 1909, and held the position until his death in 1920.

During his tenure as president of MIT, the Institute moved across the Charles River from Boston to its present campus in Cambridge. In Maclaurin's honor, the buildings that surround Killian Court on the oldest part of the campus are sometimes called the Maclaurin Buildings.

Earlier, he was a foundation professor of the then Victoria College of the University of New Zealand from 1899 to 1907. A collection of lecture theatres at the Kelburn campus of that university were named after him. He was also a professor at Columbia University from 1907 to 1908.

Personal

Maclaurin was born in Scotland, and was related to the noted Scottish mathematician Colin Maclaurin. He emigrated to New Zealand with his family at the age of four. In 1904 he married Alice Young of Auckland, and they had two sons. His brother James Scott Maclaurin (1864–1939) was a noted chemist, who invented a process for extracting gold with cyanide.

Education

Publications

  • On the Nature and Evidence of Title to Realty, 1901
  • Treatise on the Theory of Light, 1908

Honors

  • Smith's Prize in Mathematics, 1896
  • Yorke Prize in Law, University of Cambridge, 1898
  • Elected member of the American Philosophical Society, 1910{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Richard+C.+Maclaurin&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-12-06 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}
  • Elected member of the America Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1911{{Cite web |date=2023-02-09 |title=Richard Cockburn Maclaurin |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/richard-cockburn-maclaurin |access-date=2023-12-06 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}

References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{Commons category|Richard Cockburn Maclaurin}}

  • {{Internet Archive author |sname=Richard Cockburn Maclaurin}}
  • [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/M/MaclaurinRichardCockburn/MaclaurinRichardCockburn/en 'MACLAURIN, Richard Cockburn'], from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966.
  • [http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/biographies/maclaurin.html 'Richard Cockburn Maclaurin, 1870–1920'], from History of the Office of the MIT President, Institute Archives, MIT Libraries, October 2004.
  • [https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-SeeMath-t1-body-d1.html#name-208672-1 Maclaurin in Mathematics at Victoria University College]

{{s-start}}

{{s-aca}}

{{s-bef|before=Henry Smith Pritchett}}

{{s-ttl|order=6th|title=President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology|years=1909 – 1920}}

{{s-aft|after=Ernest Fox Nichols}}

{{s-end}}

{{MIT presidents}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclaurin, Richard Cockburn}}

Category:1870 births

Category:1920 deaths

Category:Presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Category:University of Auckland alumni

Category:People educated at Auckland Grammar School

Category:Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington

Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge

Richard

Category:American mathematicians

Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society