![]() There follows propositions on mathematical astronomy discussing parallax, transits and elliptical orbits. He then gives 59 theorems on reflection and refraction of light. The book begins with 5 postulates and 37 definitions. Gregory, in Optica Promota, describes the first practical reflecting telescope now called the Gregorian telescope. The reader may not understand Gregory's reference to "the elliptic inequality" which in fact refers to Kepler's discoveries. Moved by a certain youthful ardour and emboldened by the invention of the elliptic inequality, I have girded myself with these optical speculations, chief among which is the demonstration of the telescope. ![]() Encouraged by his brother David, he wrote a book on the topic Optica Promota. Gregory began to study optics and the construction of telescopes. is a disease I am happily acquainted with, for since that time I never had the least indisposition nevertheless that I was of a tender and sickly constitution formerly. Once he had shaken off this problem his health was good, however, and he wrote some years later that the quartan fever (see for example ):. He suffered for about eighteen months from the quartan fever which is a fever which recurs at approximately 72-hour intervals. He attended Grammar School and then proceeded to university, studying at Marischal College in Aberdeen. James was given Euclid's Elements to study and he found this quite an easy task. His father John Gregory died in 1651 when James was thirteen and at this stage James's education was taken over by his brother David who was about 23 at the time. James learnt mathematics first from his mother who taught him geometry. He had two older brothers Alexander (the eldest ) and David, and there was an age gap of ten years between James and David. James was the youngest of his parents three children. He acted as an editor for Viète and fully incorporated Viète's ideas into his own teaching in Paris. Janet Anderson's brother, Alexander Anderson, was a pupil of Viète. James seems to have inherited his genius through his mother's side of the family. was a man of courage and foresight but was not conspicuous for outstanding intellectual gifts. ![]() John Gregory had studied at Marischal College in Aberdeen, then gone on to study theology at St Mary's College in the University of St Andrews before spending his life in the parish of Drumoak. His father was John Gregory and his mother was Janet Anderson. This is a small parish on the river Dee, about fifteen kilometres west of Aberdeen. Biography James Gregory was born in the Manse of Drumoak.
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