Between 1870 and 1896, the American mathematician Robert Jackson Adcock (1826–1895) contributed a number of short articles to early mathematical journals such as The Analyst. His biography is given here for the first time. An obscure figure hitherto associated with the history of regression analysis and least-squares, he has, on occasion, been confused with a nephew of the same name. Before the American Civil War, Adcock was first a pupil and then taught at the Western Military Institute, which became the Kentucky Military Institute, near Frankfort, Kentucky. Afterwards, despite occasionally being hospitalized during periods of mental illness, he became a wealthy farmer who could afford mathematical recreation as a hobby. His self-published pamphlet ‘Gravitation to the sphere and the two ellipsoids of revolution’ (1872), recently discovered in the Library of the Royal Society, is discussed in Part I. Here we establish his authorship of all mathematical works by ‘R. J. Adcock’.

在1870年和1896年之间，美国数学家罗伯特·杰克逊·阿考克（Robert Jackson Adcock，1826-1895年）为早期的数学期刊（例如《分析家》）撰写了许多短文。。他的传记是第一次在这里发表。迄今为止，他与回归分析和最小二乘的历史联系在一起，是一个晦涩难懂的人物，有时他与同名的侄子相混淆。在美国内战之前，阿德科克最初是一名学生，然后在西方军事学院任教，该学院后来成为肯塔基州法兰克福附近的肯塔基军事学院。此后，尽管偶尔在精神疾病期间住院，但他还是一个富裕的农民，可以负担数学娱乐的兴趣。第一部分讨论了他最近在皇家学会图书馆发现的他自己出版的小册子《重力引力和两个旋转的椭球》（1872年）。在这里，我们确定他对所有数学著作的创作。J.阿德科克”。