James Stirling, mathematician

Stirling made small but significant advances to the work of both Newton, whose friendship he enjoyed during his decade in London, and Euler, who wrote congratulating him on the usefulness of his results. Maclaurin, a friend, respected his work and appears to have tried to help his career, though Stirling’s support of the Jacobites worked against him. De Moivre, working on similar problems, corresponded, as did Clairaut and Bradley. Arbuthnot proposed Stirling’s election to the Royal Society; however, distracted by mining business, Stirling himself took 2 years to reply to Euler, and failed to propose him in turn.