   sir james ivory (17 february 1765 â 21 september 1842) was a scottish mathematician. ivory was born in dundee, son of james ivory the renowned clock maker, and attended dundee grammar school. in 1779 he entered the university of st andrews, distinguishing himself especially in mathematics. he then studied theology; but, after two sessions at st andrews and one at edinburgh university, he abandoned all idea of the church, and in 1786 he became an assistant-teacher of mathematics and natural philosophy in the newly established dundee academy. three years later he became partner in, and manager of, a flax spinning company at douglastown in forfarshire, still prosecuting in moments of leisure his favourite studies. he was essentially a self-trained mathematician, and was not only deeply versed in ancient and modern geometry, but also had a full knowledge of the analytical methods and discoveries of the continental mathematicians. his earliest memoir, dealing with an analytical expression for the rectification of the ellipse, is published in the transactions of the royal society of edinburgh (1796); and this and his later papers on cubic equations (1799) and kepler's problem (1802) evince great facility in the handling of algebraic formulae. in 1804 after the dissolution of the flax-spinning company of which he was manager, he obtained one of the mathematical chairs in the royal military college, great marlow (afterwards removed to sandhurst); and until the year 1816, when failing health obliged him to resign, he discharged his professional duties with remarkable success. during this period he published in the philosophical transactions several important memoirs, which earned for him the copley medal in 1814 and ensured his elec
1765_births 1842_deaths 18th-century_Scottish_people 19th-century_Scottish_people Alumni_of_the_University_of_Edinburgh Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society People_educated_at_the_High_School_of_Dundee People_from_Dundee Recipients_of_the_Copley_Medal Royal_Medal_winners Scottish_astronomers Scottish_mathematicians Scottish_scientists