   colin maclaurin (february 1698&nbsp;â 14 june 1746; )http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/extras/turnbull_maclaurin_1.html turnbull lectures on colin maclaurin (4 february 1947), part i was a scottish mathematician who made important contributions to geometry and algebra. the maclaurin series, a special case of the taylor series, is named after him. owing to changes in orthography since that time (his name was originally rendered as e.g. "m'laurine""colin maclaurin: a biographical note" by robin schlapp (6 december 1946). (note that the quotation in  has been altered.)), his surname is alternatively written maclaurin.http://www.m-a.org.uk/docs/library/2064.pdf ==early life== maclaurin was born in kilmodan, argyll. his father, reverend and minister of glendaruel john maclaurin, died when maclaurin was in infancy, and his mother died before he reached nine years of age. he was then educated under the care of his uncle, the reverend daniel maclaurin, minister of kilfinan. ==academic career== at eleven, maclaurin entered the university of glasgow. he graduated ma three years later by defending a thesis on the power of gravity, and remained at glasgow to study divinity until he was 19, when he was elected professor of mathematics in a ten-day competition at the marischal college in the university of aberdeen. this record as the world's youngest professor endured until march 2008, when the record was officially given to alia sabur.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/university-appoints-child-prodigy-worlds-youngest-professor-818776.html|title=university appoints
1698_births 1746_deaths 18th-century_British_mathematicians Academics_of_the_University_of_Aberdeen Academics_of_the_University_of_Edinburgh Alumni_of_the_University_of_Glasgow Burials_at_Greyfriars_Kirkyard Deaths_from_edema Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society Members_of_the_Philosophical_Society_of_Edinburgh People_from_Glendaruel Scottish_mathematicians