View source for Samuel Roberts (mathematician)

{{Short description|British mathematician (1827–1913)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2012}}
[[File:Samuel Roberts FRS.jpg|thumb|Samuel Roberts]]
'''Samuel Roberts''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (15 December 1827, in [[Horncastle, Lincolnshire]] – 18 September 1913, in [[London]]) was a British mathematician.

Roberts studied at [[Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Horncastle]]. He matriculated in 1845 at the [[University of London]], where he earned in 1847 his bachelor's degree in mathematics and in 1849 his master's degree in mathematics and physics, as first in his class. Next he studied law and became a solicitor in 1853. After a few years of law practice he abandoned his law career and returned to mathematics, although he never had an academic position. He had his first mathematical paper published in 1848. In 1865 he was an important participant in the founding of the [[London Mathematical Society]] (LMS). From 1866 to 1892 he acted as legal counsel for LMS, from 1872 to 1880 he was the organization's treasurer, and from 1880 to 1882 its president. In 1896 he  received the [[De Morgan Medal]] of the  LMS. In 1878 he was elected FRS.

Roberts published papers in several fields of mathematics, including [[geometry]], [[interpolation]] theory, and [[Diophantine equation]]s.

Roberts and [[Pafnuty Chebyschev]] are jointly credited with the [[Roberts-Chebyshev theorem]] related to four-bar linkages.<ref>[https://rd.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-007-4132-4_35 Roberts-Chebyschev theorem] Retrieved 2012-10-12</ref> [[Roberts's triangle theorem]], on the minimum number of triangles that <math>n</math> lines can form, is also named after Roberts, who published the theorem (with an unconvincing proof) in 1889.<ref>{{citation
 | last = Grünbaum | first = Branko | author-link = Branko Grünbaum
 | issue = 1
 | journal = [[Geombinatorics]]
 | mr = 1633757
 | pages = 154–159
 | title = How many triangles?
 | url = https://faculty.washington.edu/moishe/branko/BG223.How.many.triangles.pdf
 | volume = 8
 | year = 1998}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Roberts|title=Samuel Roberts}}

{{De Morgan Medallists}}
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[[Category:19th-century English mathematicians]]
[[Category:20th-century English mathematicians]]
[[Category:1827 births]]
[[Category:1913 deaths]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:People from Horncastle, Lincolnshire]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of London]]
[[Category:People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Horncastle]]