Wallace , William , 1768-1843 , mathematician

William Wallace was born and brought up in Dysart, Fifeshire, where he learned arithmetic from his father. Living in Edinburgh as a young man, he educated himself in mathematics and science before going to work as a teacher in Perth. Having become a well-known mathematician, Wallace left Scotland in 1803 to teach at the Royal Military College at Marlow, Buckinghamshire. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1804. Marlow returned to Scotland permanently in 1819 when he became Professor of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh, a position he held until retiring in 1834.