Alexander MacFarlane ( 1702 - 1755 )

Birth: Scotland (1702) Death: 23 August 1755 Profession: Merchant; plantation and slave owner; colonial official Research field: Mathematics; astronomy Education: University of Glasgow, MA (1728) Career: Emigrated to Jamaica where he became a merchant, planter and owner of enslaved people in Kingston (1735), estates included Biscany in St Elzabeth and Serge Island Jamaica; Assistant judge, Jamaica; member of the Assembly for St Elizabeth, Jamaica (1754-1755); built his house in Jamaica to function as an observatory (1743); bequeathed his scientific instruments to the University of Glasgow, leding to the establishemnt of the MacFarlane Observatory (1757) where the instruments later inspired James Watt FRS Membership: Fellow Election Date: 19/02/1747.