MATHEMATICIAN

John Playfair

1748 - 1819

Photo of John Playfair

Icon of person John Playfair

John Playfair FRSE, FRS (10 March 1748 – 20 July 1819) was a Church of Scotland minister, remembered as a scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his book Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth (1802), which summarised the work of James Hutton. It was through this book that Hutton's principle of uniformitarianism, later taken up by Charles Lyell, first reached a wide audience. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of John Playfair has received more than 148,721 page views. His biography is available in 27 different languages on Wikipedia (down from 28 in 2019). John Playfair is the 497th most popular mathematician (up from 602nd in 2019), the 2,310th most popular biography from United Kingdom (up from 2,928th in 2019) and the 48th most popular British Mathematician.

Memorability Metrics

  • 150k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 52.42

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 27

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.23

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.04

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among MATHEMATICIANS

Among mathematicians, John Playfair ranks 497 out of 1,004. Before him are Johannes de Muris, Joseph Raphson, Stanisław Leśniewski, Pavel Urysohn, Pierre François Verhulst, and Theon of Smyrna. After him are Mitchell Feigenbaum, Johann Benedict Listing, John Hadley, Geminus, Anders Johan Lexell, and Jean Frédéric Frenet.

Most Popular Mathematicians in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1748, John Playfair ranks 21. Before him are Benedict Joseph Labre, Dominique, comte de Cassini, Anders Sparrman, Félix Vicq-d'Azyr, William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, and Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot. After him are Frederick V, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg, Martha Jefferson, Francesco Mario Pagano, Anne Seymour Damer, Timur Shah Durrani, and Charles Blagden. Among people deceased in 1819, John Playfair ranks 23. Before him are Bodawpaya, Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco, Abbé Faria, Alexander Tormasov, Johann Peter Beaulieu, and Johan David Åkerblad. After him are Valentin Vodnik, Princess Louise of Orange-Nassau, Josepha Weber, John Marshall, Hannah Van Buren, and Mary Moser.

Others Born in 1748

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 1819

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, John Playfair ranks 2,310 out of 8,785. Before him are Charles Forbes René de Montalembert (1810), Lullus (710), Jackie Oliver (1942), Claude Rains (1889), Teddy Sheringham (1966), and Veronica Cartwright (1949). After him are Rachel Roberts (1927), David Tomlinson (1917), John Scott Haldane (1860), Murray Head (1946), Martin Donnelly (1964), and John Machin (1680).

Others born in United Kingdom

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among MATHEMATICIANS In United Kingdom

Among mathematicians born in United Kingdom, John Playfair ranks 48. Before him are William Kingdon Clifford (1845), Eric Temple Bell (1883), James Stirling (1692), W. V. D. Hodge (1903), David Mumford (1937), and Joseph Raphson (1648). After him are John Hadley (1682), Thomas Wright (1711), Egon Pearson (1895), Sydney Chapman (1888), Paul Bernays (1888), and Ernest William Brown (1866).

British born Mathematicians

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous