Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Stanhope, FRS (15 August 1714 – 7 March 1786) was a British peer.
The son of James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope, and Lucy Pitt, he succeeded to his father's titles in 1721. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society from 1735, and had a lifelong interest in mathematics. He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1774.[1] He privileged the pursuit of science and mathematics over politics and became close to prominent natural philosophers such as Joseph Priestley and Benjamin Franklin. As a patron of various mathematicians, he came into contact with Thomas Bayes, one of the founders of Bayesian inference.[2]
On 25 July 1745, he married Grizel Hamilton, daughter of Charles Hamilton, Lord Binning. They had two sons:
- Philip Stanhope, Viscount Mahon (24 June 1746 – 6 July 1763).
- Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope (3 August 1753 – 15 December 1816).[3]
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ Commerce (Barbados), Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and (1784). Institution and first Proceedings of the Society, etc. [1781–84.].
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ The Register of Births & Baptisms in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster Vol. IV. 1741–1760. 29 August 1753.