Cotes, ROGER

Cotes, ROGER, a mathematician, whose remarkable promise was cut short by untimely death, was born at Burbage, near Leicester, July 10, 1682. He had his education at St Paul's School, London, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was elected fellow in 1705, and next year, through the influence of Newton, Whiston, and Bentley, Plumian professor of Astronomy and Natural Philosophy. He was elected F.R.S. in 1711, and took orders in 1713. His principal work is the admirable preface explaining the Newtonian philosophy, and answering objections to gravitation, prefixed to the second edition (1713) of Newton's Principia. Various original mathematical papers, tending greatly to the development of logarithms, were edited after his death, which took place 5th June 1716. 'Had Cotes lived,' said Sir Isaac Newton, 'we might have known something.'