Stephen Peter Rigaud

Stephen Peter Rigaud (12 August 177416 March 1839) FRAS[1] was an English mathematical historian and astronomer.

Stephen Peter Rigaud
Born12 August 1774
Died16 March 1839 (aged 64)
Resting placeSt James, Piccadilly, London
Alma materExeter College, Oxford
The Rigaud children by their uncle John Francis Rigaud, 1778 (Ashmolean Museum)

Rigaud was born into a French Protestant family.[2] His father, Stephen (also known as James Stephen) Rigaud, was Observer at the Kew Observatory, and his uncle was the portrait painter John Francis Rigaud, who painted a portrait of Rigaud, aged four, and his sister Mary Anne.

He was a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford from 1794 to 1810, held the Savilian Chair of Geometry at the University of Oxford from 1810 to 1827, and was Savilian Professor of Astronomy from 1827 to 1839.[2] He lived at 21 Richmond Green in Richmond, Surrey (now Richmond, London) from 1815 to 1826.[3]

Published works

  • Historical essay on the first publication of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia (1838)

Death and legacy

He died on 16 March 1839 and was buried at St James, Piccadilly, London, where a memorial to him lies in the church.

A memorial to Stephen Peter Rigaud in St James's Church, Piccadilly.

His papers, purchased at Sotheby's in 1978, are held at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.[2] His eldest son, Stephen Jordan Rigaud (1816–1859), was an English clergyman and schoolmaster who became Bishop of Antigua.

References

  1. "1840MNRAS...5...22. Page 22". articles.adsabs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  2. "MSS. Rigaud 3-33, 33A, 34-51, 53-7, 60-8 Riguad Papers". Collection Level Description: Savile Collection. Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  3. "Richmond Green: Properties". Richmond Libraries’ Local Studies Collection: Local History Notes. London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
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