Cotes, Roger (1682–1716)

English mathematician. In 1713 he prepared the second edition of Isaac Newton's Principia for publication. His own writings were published posthumously in 1722 under the title Harmonia mensurarum.

He was born in Burbage, Leicester, and studied at Cambridge, becoming a fellow of Trinity College in 1705 and Plumian professor of astronomy and natural philosophy in 1706. His death at the age of 33 brought the tribute from Newton that ‘had Cotes lived we might have known something’.