Mathematics in Victorian Britain

MATHEMATICS IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN Edited by Raymond Flood, Adrian Rice, and Robin Wilson Oxford University Press, 201 1 , 466 pp. ISBN: 978-0-19-960139-4Britain's Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901. During that time, Britain witnessed Hamilton's invention of the quaternions, Boole's algebraic logic, and Babbage's calculating machines. Mathematics in Victorian Britain is a collection of 18 papers that examine different but often overlapping topics and characters from this fascinating period in mathematical history.The Introduction by Adrian Rice (Randolph-Macon College) is a tantalizing name-dropping, topic-spotlighting overview of the contents to follow. The topic of the opening chapter by Tony Crilly (Middlesex University) is the famous Cambridge mathematical tripos, its examination, and the ranking of "wranglers" based on that exam. This chapter describes the status given to the top-scoring students (first or senior wranglers), and the evolution and eventual disappearance of the exam. The second chapter, by Keith Hannabus (Oxford University), looks at the mathematics and mathematicians of Cambridge's rival at Oxford. The bulk of this chapter examines the three Savilian professors of geometry credited with elevating Oxford's status in mathematics: Baden Powell (Savilian professor from 1827-1860), Henry Smith (1860-1883), and J.J. Sylvester (1883-1894).Moving from Oxbridge to the nation's capitol, the third chapter by Adrian Rice surveys the teaching of university mathematics in London. The work of several well-known names in British mathematics (Augustus DeMorgan, Karl Pearson, and J. J. Sylvester), as well as some who are not so well-known (William Clifford, Thomas Archer Hirst, and John Perry), is highlighted.The next three chapters take us out of England and into other parts of the United Kingdom and the British Empire. The chapter by Tony Mann (University of Greenwich) and Alex Craik on Victorian mathematics in Scotland introduces the triumvirate of mathematical physicists William Thomson, Peter Guthrie Tait, and James Clerk Maxwell (aka T, T-prime, and dp/dt). We are also introduced to the lesser-known Scottish mathematicians Alexander Bain, Philip Kelland, and Mary Somerville. Chapter Five, by Raymond Flood (University of Oxford), takes us to Ireland. This chapter centers on William Rowan Hamilton, but also attempts to identify the characteristics of Irish mathematics during the Victorian period. June Barrow-Green (Open University) finishes the excursion through the British Empire with a fascinating exposition of high wranglers who found themselves teaching in Australia, Canada, South Africa, India, and New Zealand. The information in this wide-ranging chapter is not easily accessible elsewhere. Thus ends the geographical portion of Mathematics in Victorian Britain.An interesting chapter on Victorian mathematical journals and societies by Sloan Despeaux (Western Carolina University) follows. Up next are ten mathematical field-focused chapters. These chapters bring back many of the mathematicians encountered in the previous sections but here the emphasis is on their mathematical work. Alex Craik's chapter on applied mathematics focuses on the major Victorian achievements in celestial mechanics, light, thermodynamics, and electricity and magnetism. …