Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Anderson, George (fl.1740)
ANDERSON, GEORGE (fl. 1740), was a mathematician, about whom nothing is known beyond what is contained in eight letters addressed by him to the celebrated mathematician, William Jones (father of Sir W. Jones, the Orientalist), which were printed from the Macclesfield papers in 1841. They give proof of singular ability in treating the most advanced mathematical problems of the time, and by many indications show the writer (contrary to an editorial surmise) to have occupied a respectable position in life. The first three are dated from Twickenham. Aug.—Oct. 1736; the last was written 27 Sept. 1740, at Leyden, where the writer had just entered upon a ‘train of studies and exercises’ at the university. He expressed in 1739 a strong desire to be admitted to the Royal Society, but his name does not appear upon the list of its members.
[Correspondence of Scientific Men of the Seventeenth Century, ed. S. J. Rigaud (1841), Oxford, i. 293–366; De Morgan in S. D. U. K. Biog. Dict. ii. 576; Index of Leyden Students, pub. by Index Soc., p. 3.]