Nicolas Vilant

[1] He was baptised in Ferryport-on-Tay (now called Tayport) on 12 June 1737, the son of Rev William Vilant, the local minister (but of French descent), and his second wife, Jean Wilson.

He studied Mathematics at St Andrews University from 1752 under Prof David Gregory.

[2] Vilant was Regius Professor of Mathematics in the University of Saint Andrews from 1765 to his death in 1807.

Often ill, he was unable to teach most of this time, and lectures were given by assistants, among them John West.

[3] Under Newtonian tradition, he was unable to follow the continental developments in mathematical analysis, like most of his British contemporaries.