Divine and mathematician, born in Leicestershire; educated at Clare College, Cambridge, of which he became a Fellow; gained reputation from his "Theory of the Earth"; succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as Lucasian professor, but was discharged from the office and expelled from the university for Arianism; removed to London, where he lived a separatist from the Church, and died a Baptist; wrote "Primitive Christianity," and translated "Josephus"; he was a crotchety but a conscientious man (1667-1752).