500 a year and an office in the Treasury. His task was
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Atwood was a very popular lecturer giving many demonstrations in his lectures. He published details of these demonstrations in 1776. In the same year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
William Pitt, British prime minister (1783-1801, 1804-06), gave Atwood 500 a year and an office in the Treasury. His task was
to devote a large portion of his time to financial calculation.
Atwood is best known for a work A Treatise on the Rectilinear Motion ... (1784) which is a textbook on Newtonian mechanics. It describes a machine, now known as Atwood's machine, to demonstrate the laws of uniformly accelerated motion due to gravity.
Atwood also published on equations for the use of Hadley's quadrant. He extended theories of Euler and Bouguer on the stability of ships. He also wrote on the construction of arches (1801) and on the design of a new iron London Bridge over the Thames.
He was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society.
Reference (One book/article)
References elsewhere in this archive:
George Atwood was elected to the Royal Society of London in 1776. You can see a history of the Royal Society and a list of the members among the mathematicians in our archive.
He was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1796. You can see a history of the Copley Medal and a list of the winners.
There is a Crater Atwood on the moon. You can see a list of lunar features named after mathematicians.