William Brouncker, 2nd Viscount Brouncker

William Brouncker, 2nd Viscount Brouncker. A pioneering English mathematician and a foundational scientific administrator, William Brouncker is best remembered as the inaugural President of the Royal Society. His mathematical contributions, particularly in the study of continued fractions and the quadrature of the hyperbola, were highly regarded by contemporaries like John Wallis and Christiaan Huygens. As a prominent courtier under King Charles II, he helped secure the royal charter for the Royal Society and guided its early development, blending aristocratic patronage with rigorous experimental philosophy.

Early life and education

William Brouncker was born in 1620, the son of William Brouncker, 1st Viscount Brouncker and Winifred Leigh. He was educated at Oxford, where he matriculated at Brouncker's formula in 1636. Brouncker earned the degree of Doctor of Medicine from Oxford in 1647, demonstrating an early interdisciplinary intellect that spanned the sciences. His family's position within the Royalist faction during the English Civil War likely influenced his later career at the Restoration court of Charles II.

Mathematical work

Brouncker's most significant mathematical achievements were in collaboration with and in response to the work of John Wallis. In his 1655 work *Arithmetica Infinitorum*, Wallis posed a problem concerning the quadrature of the hyperbola, which Brouncker successfully solved by expressing the area as an infinite continued fraction. This solution, later known as Brouncker's formula, provided a novel expression for π/4. His correspondence with Wallis, published in the *Commercium Epistolicum*, was instrumental in developing the theory of continued fractions. He also engaged in mathematical disputes with Thomas Hobbes and maintained a scholarly correspondence with leading European intellectuals like Christiaan Huygens.

Role in the Royal Society

Following the Restoration, Brouncker became a key figure in the nascent scientific community in London. He was a founding member of the group that evolved into the Royal Society and, due to his high social standing and mathematical reputation, was chosen as its first President of the Royal Society in 1662. He played a crucial role in securing the Society's first and second royal charters from King Charles II. As president for fifteen years, he presided over meetings, corresponded with foreign scholars like Giovanni Domenico Cassini, and helped establish the Society's early experimental and publication culture, notably in the *Philosophical Transactions*.

Later life and death

In addition to his scientific pursuits, Brouncker held several public offices. He served as a Commissioner of the Admiralty and was appointed Keeper of the Great Seal to Queen Catherine, a position that provided him lodgings in Whitehall Palace. He resigned the presidency of the Royal Society in 1677, succeeded by Joseph Williamson. William Brouncker died at his residence in Westminster on 5 April 1684. He was buried in the church of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and his title passed to his brother, Henry Brouncker, 3rd Viscount Brouncker.

Legacy and recognition

Brouncker's legacy is firmly rooted in the institutional history of British science. As the first President of the Royal Society, he set important precedents for scientific leadership and patronage. His mathematical work, particularly Brouncker's formula, secured his reputation among the leading minds of the Scientific Revolution, influencing later mathematicians such as Leonhard Euler. The Brounker crater on the Moon is named in his honor, a testament to his enduring recognition in the annals of science. His role exemplifies the critical intersection of aristocratic authority and scholarly inquiry in the foundation of modern scientific institutions.

Category:1620 births Category:1684 deaths Category:Presidents of the Royal Society Category:English mathematicians Category:Viscounts in the Peerage of England