William Rutherford (mathematician)
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William Rutherford (1798–1871) was an English mathematician famous for his calculation of 208 digits of the mathematical constant π in 1841.
Only the first 152 calculated digits were later found to be correct; but that broke the record of the time, which was held by the Slovenian mathematician Jurij Vega since 1789 (126 first digits correct).[1] Rutherford used the following formula:[2]
Rutherford was born about 1798. He was a master at a school at Woodburn from 1822 to 1825, when he went to Hawick, Roxburghshire, and he was later (1832–1837) a master at Corporation Academy, Berwick-on-Tweed.[3]
In 1838 Rutherford obtained a mathematical post at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was a member of the council of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1844 to 1847, and honorary secretary in 1845 and 1846. He was a friend of Wesley S. B. Woolhouse.[3]
Rutherford retired from his post at Woolwich about 1864, and died on 16 September 1871, at his residence, Tweed Cottage, Maryon Road, Charlton, at the age of seventy-three.[3]
