Alexander Macfarlane FRSE (21 April 1851 – 28 August 1913) was a Scottish logician, physicist, and mathematician.Macfarlane was born in Blairgowrie, Scotland and studied at the University of Edinburgh. His doctoral thesis "The disruptive discharge of electricity" reported on experimental results from the laboratory of Peter Guthrie Tait.In 1878 Macfarlane was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of EdinburghDuring his life, Macfarlane played a prominent role in research and education.