Colin Maclaurin was a Scottish mathematician who made important contributions to geometry and algebra. He is also known for being a child prodigy and holding the record for being the youngest professor. The Maclaurin series, a special case of the Taylor series, is named after him.
![“[writing to Stirling in 1740] ... an unlucky accident happened to some of the French mathematicians in Peru. It seems that they were shewing French gallantry to the natives' wives, who have murdered their servants destroyed their instruments and burnt their papers, the Gentlemen escaping narrowly…” quote by Colin Maclaurin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/169/colin-maclaurin-66012_accidents_writing-to-stirling-in-1740-an-unlucky-a_2476710.png)