Joseph Raphson

Joseph Raphson (about 1668 to 1712) was an English mathematician credited with the independent discovery of the method for solving equations numerically that is now called the Newton-Raphson method. His life is pieced together from scattered records: he was probably born in Pinner, Middlesex, was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1689 on Edmond Halley's proposal, and received an M.A. from Jesus College, Cambridge, by royal warrant in 1692 although he almost certainly never studied there. His book Analysis aequationum universalis (1690) set out a general method of approximating the roots of an equation, published nearly fifty years before Newton's own account of the same method appeared in print. He also compiled A mathematical dictionary (1702), abridged from Ozanam, translated Newton's Arithmetica universalis into English as Universal arithmetick, and wrote Historia fluxionum, which supported Newton's claims against Leibniz and appeared after his death. His theological works De spatio reali and Demonstratio de deo drew on Cabalist ideas about space.