caption significant_projects death_date death_place birth_place significant_advance nationality significant_design discipline birth_date spouse image article_title education name
engraved '' guide to railway masonry '' portrait of nicholson from the frontispiece of his carlton place , glasgow ardrossan town plan 18 june 1844 carlisle , cumbria prestonkirk , east lothian the helicoidal skew arch british the centrolinead the cyclograph architect , mathematician , structural engineer 20 july 1765 jane -lrb- d. 1832 -rrb- ; peter nicholson -lrb- architect -rrb- . png peter nicholson -lrb- architect -rrb-
 parish self-taught school -lrb- three years only -rrb- , mostly peter nicholson
peter nicholson -lrb- architect -rrb-

peter nicholson -lrb- 20 july 1765 -- 18 june 1844 -rrb- was a scottish architect , mathematician and engineer .
largely self-taught , he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker but soon abandoned his trade in favour of teaching and writing .
he practised as an architect but is best remembered for his theoretical work on the skew arch -lrb- he never actually constructed one himself -rrb- , his invention of draughtsman 's instruments , including a centrolinead and a cyclograph , and his prolific writing on numerous practical subjects .
