FARQUHARSON, HENRY [SSNE 3873]

Surname

FARQUHARSON

First name

HENRY

Title/rank

BRIGADIER

Nationality

SCOT

Region

ABERDEEN

Social status

OFFICER

Text source

Henry Farquharson was both a graduate and lecturer of Marischal College, Aberdeen. In 1698 he was engaged for Russian service by Tsar Peter in London and directed Russia's first secular educational institution, the Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation, later the Naval Academy in St Petersburg, for nearly 40 years. He published the earliest Russian works on mathematics and astronomy (Tables of Logarithims, Euclid's Elements, etc) and helped to introduce Arabic numerals for Cyrillic. An expert cartographer and surveyor he laid out a new road between Moscow and St Petersburg. He achieved the rank of Brigadier.

D. Fedosov, 'Henry Farquharson: A Scottish mathematician in Russia' in Aberdeen and Europe: the first three centuries, Aberdeen,1995; D. Fedosov, The Caledonian Connection (Aberdeen, 1996).

Service record

RUSSIA, ST PETERSBURG

Arrived 1698-01-01, as BRIGADIER

Departed 1739-12-31, as BRIGADIER

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY