Mathematics in Victorian Britain

photographer and broadcaster Foreword by Dr Adam Hart-Davis

syys 2011 · OUP Oxford

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During the Victorian era, industrial and economic growth led to a phenomenal rise in productivity and invention. That spirit of creativity and ingenuity was reflected in the massive expansion in scope and complexity of many scientific disciplines during this time, with subjects evolving rapidly and the creation of many new disciplines. The subject of mathematics was no exception and many of the advances made by mathematicians during the Victorian period are still familiar today; matrices, vectors, Boolean algebra, histograms, and standard deviation were just some of the innovations pioneered by these mathematicians. This book constitutes perhaps the first general survey of the mathematics of the Victorian period. It assembles in a single source research on the history of Victorian mathematics that would otherwise be out of the reach of the general reader. It charts the growth and institutional development of mathematics as a profession through the course of the 19th century in England, Scotland, Ireland, and across the British Empire. It then focuses on developments in specific mathematical areas, with chapters ranging from developments in pure mathematical topics (such as geometry, algebra, and logic) to Victorian work in the applied side of the subject (including statistics, calculating machines, and astronomy). Along the way, we encounter a host of mathematical scholars, some very well known (such as Charles Babbage, James Clerk Maxwell, Florence Nightingale, and Lewis Carroll), others largely forgotten, but who all contributed to the development of Victorian mathematics.

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Raymond Flood is Emeritus Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford where, prior to this, he was Vice President. He has worked as a university lecturer in Computing Studies and Mathematics at the Department for Continuing Education, Oxford University and was president of the British Society for the History of Mathematics. Adrian Rice is Professor of Mathematics at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, where his research focuses on 19th-century and early 20th-century British mathematics. He is a two-time recipient of the Mathematical Association of America's Tevor Evans Award for outstanding expository writing. Robin Wilson is Emeritus Professor of Pure Mathematics at the Open University, formerly Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, a former fellow of Keble College, Oxford, and president-elect of the British Society for the History of Mathematics. He is involved with the popularization and communication of mathematics and its history, and in 2005 was awarded a Pólya prize by the Mathematical Association of America for outstanding expository writing. He was formerly Editor-in-Chief of the European Mathematical Society's Newsletter and Chair of the Committee on Raising Public Awareness of Mathematics.