Nicholas Saunderson

Nicholas Saunderson FRS (1682 – 19 April 1739) was a blind English scientist and mathematician. According to one historian of statistics, he may have been the earliest discoverer of Bayes theorem. He worked as Lucasian Professor, a post also held by Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage and Stephen Hawking.

Saunderson was born at Thurlstone, Yorkshire, in January 1682. When about a year old he lost his sight through smallpox; but this did not prevent him from acquiring a knowledge of Latin and Greek, and studying mathematics. As a child, he is also thought to have learnt to read by tracing the engravings on tombstones around St John the Baptist Church in Penistone with his fingers. His early education was at Penistone Grammar School, and he was introduced to Cambridge via meetings with the local gentry at Underbank Hall, near Penistone.

In 1707, he arrived in Cambridge, staying with his friend Joshua Dunn, a fellow-commoner at Christ's College. During this time, he resided in Christ's but was not admitted to the University. With the permission of the Lucasian professor, William Whiston, Saunderson was allowed to teach, lecturing on mathematics, astronomy and optics.

Whiston was expelled from his chair on 30 October 1710; at the appeal of the heads of colleges, Queen Anne awarded Saunderson a Master of Arts degree on 19 November 1711 so that he would be eligible to succeed Whiston as Lucasian professor. He was chosen as the fourth Lucasian professor the next day, defeating the Trinity College candidate Christopher Hussey, backed by Richard Bentley, when the electors split 6 to 4 in his favour.

On 6 November 1718 Saunderson was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He was resident at Christ's until 1723 when he married and took a house in Cambridge. He was created doctor of laws in 1728 by command of George II. He died of scurvy, on 19 April 1739 and was buried in the chancel of the parish church at Boxworth near Cambridge.

Saunderson possessed the friendship of leading mathematicians of the time: Isaac Newton, Edmond Halley, Abraham De Moivre and Roger Cotes. His senses of hearing and touch were acute, and he could carry out mentally long and intricate mathematical calculations. He devised a calculating machine or abacus, by which he could perform arithmetical and algebraic operations by the sense of touch; it was known as his "palpable arithmetic", and was described in his Elements of Algebra.

Of his other writings, prepared for the use of his pupils, the only one which has been published is The Method of Fluxions.

At the end of this treatise there is given, in Latin, an explanation of the principal propositions of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy.

Part of Saunderson's role as the Lucasian professor was to disseminate the Principia Mathematica so that it was accessible to undergraduates and college tutors. Ultimately through his teaching during his term in office, he reformed the decaying, traditional curriculum of Cambridge to emphasize mathematics and Newtonian natural philosophy, defending it from opponents. He provided the first systematic introduction to Differential calculus, detailed in his posthumous work The Method of Fluxions Applied to a Select Number of Useful Problems.

Saunderson did not follow the common practice of publishing his work; however, manuscripts of his lectures and treatises were in circulation and were used by a number of notable individuals including the astronomers James Bradley at Oxford University and Samuel Vince at Cambridge University. After he died, his work The Elements of Algebra in Ten Books was published in his name.

The discovery of Bayes' theorem remains a controversial topic in the history of mathematics. While it is certain to have been discovered before Thomas Bayes' time, there are several contenders for priority including Saunderson. At the time, much of mathematics research was performed through the exchange of private letters, and through verbal discussions, rather than publications. Historian of statistics Stephen Stigler concluded that Saunderson was the most probable discoverer after attempting to trace some of these letters and discussions, but has been challenged by other statisticians. Somewhat fittingly for a question about probability, it seems likely that the question will never be resolved completely but will remain as a probabilistic belief about Saunderson and others.

He appears as a fictional character on his deathbed in eighteenth-century novelist Denis Diderot's Letter on the Blind for the Use of those who can see, which discusses how man can acquire knowledge not only through perception, but also through reason. His character represents a person with no perception but endowed with logical genius, trying to comprehend God. This gives some indication of his celebrity status during his life, being used as an icon similarly to his chair's later occupant, Stephen Hawking, who also appears in debates about disability and genius.

In Penistone, St John's Gardens at St John's Church features a memorial to Saunderson. His birthplace in a nearby house on Towngate, Thurlstone, bore a "Hic Natus Est" inscribed stone; the house is long gone (1950s) but the stone is built into a wall in a small garden at nearby Townend. One of the old school buildings and a house of Penistone Grammar School, and a local residential street, Saunderson Gardens, are named after him.

In 2006, Saunderson's life was turned into a musical, No Horizon, written by Andy Platt, headmaster of Springvale Primary School in Penistone. The musical was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 3–27 August 2016.