GREGORY

gregory, olinthus gilbert (1774-1841), english mathematician, was born on the 29th of january 1774 at yaxley in huntingdonshire. having been educated by richard weston, a leicester botanist, he published in 1793 a treatise, lessons _astronomical and philosophical_. having settled at cambridge in 1796, gregory first acted as sub-editor on the _cambridge intelligencer_, and then opened a bookseller's shop. in 1802 he obtained an appointment as mathematical master at woolwich through the influence of charles hutton, to whose notice he had been brought by a manuscript on the "use of the sliding rule"; and when hutton resigned in 1807 gregory succeeded him in the professorship. failing health obliged him to retire in 1838, and he died at woolwich on the 2nd of february 1841. gregory wrote _hints for the use of teachers of elementary mathematics_ (1840, new edition 1853), and _mathematics for practical men_ (1825), which was revised and enlarged by henry law in 1848, and again by j. r. young in 1862. his _letters on the evidences of christianity_ (1815) have been several times reprinted, and an abridgment was published by the religious tract society in 1853. he will probably be longest remembered for his _biography of robert hall_, which first appeared in the collected edition of hall's works, was published separately in 1833, and has since passed through several editions. the minor importance of his _memoir of john mason good_ (1828) is due to the narrower fame of the subject. gregory was one of the founders of the royal astronomical society. in 1802 he was appointed editor of the _gentlemen's diary_, and in 1818 editor of the _ladies' diary_ and superintendent of the almanacs of the stationers' company.