Simson

Simson is a surname of Germanic origin, a variant of Simpson, found in several European countries. The name appears in historical records and continues to be used in contemporary contexts, where it may refer to individuals bearing the surname. It is distinct from the more common English surname Simpson.

In mathematics, the best-known use of the name is Simson's line, a geometric concept associated with the 18th-century Scottish geometer Robert Simson (c. 1696–1768). Simson studied Euclid and contributed to the dissemination of classical geometry; Simson's line bears his name.

Simson's line describes a property of a triangle. For any point on the triangle's circumcircle, the perpendiculars dropped from that point to the triangle's three sides meet the sides at three feet that lie on a single straight line, called the Simson line. The line depends on the chosen point on the circumcircle and is a standard result in Euclidean geometry, with various extensions and related constructions in geometric literature.