{"history":[],"article":{"id":"9805a206-0bc1-4a97-a35f-5d499fb1c860","title":"William Spottiswoode","slug":"william-spottiswoode","content":":::summary\n![William Spottiswoode](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/William///Spottiswoode.jpg)\n**Name:** William Spottiswoode \n**Birth Date:** January 11, 1825 \n**Birth Place:** London, England \n**Death Date:** June 27, 1883 \n**Death Place:** London, England \n**Nationality:** British \n**Field:** [Mathematics](https://bliptext.com/articles/mathematics), [physics](https://bliptext.com/articles/physics) \n**Alma Mater:** [Laleham](https://bliptext.com/articles/laleham) [Eton College](https://bliptext.com/articles/eton-college) [Harrow School](https://bliptext.com/articles/harrow-school) [Balliol College](https://bliptext.com/articles/balliol-college) \n:::\n\n# \n**William H. Spottiswoode** H[FRSE](https://bliptext.com/articles/frse) LLD (11 January 1825 – 27 June 1883) was an [English](https://bliptext.com/articles/english-people) [mathematician](https://bliptext.com/articles/mathematician), [physicist](https://bliptext.com/articles/physicist) and partner in the printing and publishing firm [Eyre & Spottiswoode](https://bliptext.com/articles/eyre-spottiswoode).\nHe was president of the [Royal Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/royal-society) from 1878 to 1883.\n\n# Biography\n\n## Early life\nSpottiswoode was born in London on 11 January 1825, the son of [Andrew Spottiswoode](https://bliptext.com/articles/andrew-spottiswoode) and his wife, Mary Longman.\nHis father was descended from an ancient Scottish family, represented [Colchester](https://bliptext.com/articles/colchester) in parliament for some years, and in 1831 became junior partner in the firm of [Eyre & Spottiswoode](https://bliptext.com/articles/eyre-spottiswoode), printers.\nWilliam was educated at Laleham Lea School, [Eton College](https://bliptext.com/articles/eton-college), and [Harrow School](https://bliptext.com/articles/harrow-school).\nHe then studied Mathematics and Physics at [Balliol College](https://bliptext.com/articles/balliol-college), [Oxford](https://bliptext.com/articles/oxford).\nHis talent for science showed itself while he was still a schoolboy, and indeed his removal from Eton to Harrow is said to have been occasioned by an accidental explosion which occurred whilst he was performing an experiment for his own amusement.\nAt Harrow he obtained a Lyon scholarship in 1842, and at Oxford in 1845 a first-class in mathematics, in 1846 the junior and in 1847 the senior university mathematical scholarship.\n\n## Family\nOn 27 November 1861 at [Bexley](https://bliptext.com/articles/bexley) in [Kent](https://bliptext.com/articles/kent), he married Elisa (\"Lise\") Taylor Arbuthnot (1837–1894), daughter of [William Urquhart Arbuthnot](https://bliptext.com/articles/william-urquhart-arbuthnot) (son of [Sir William Arbuthnot, 1st Baronet](https://bliptext.com/articles/sir-william-arbuthnot-1st-baronet)).\nTheir children included [William Hugh Spottiswoode](https://bliptext.com/articles/hugh-spottiswoode) (1864–1915) and Cyril Andrew Spottiswoode (1867–1915).\n\n# Career\nIn 1846 he left Oxford to take his father's place in the business, in which he was engaged until his death.\nIn 1847 Spottiswoode issued five pamphlets entitled Meditationes Analyticae, that explored complex mathematical ideas through analytic methods, particularly focusing on functions and calculus.\nThese pamphlets, among other things, exhibited advanced mathematical analytics and solutions to complex equations that examined the behavior of mathematical functions more deeply and precisely.\nThese were his first publications of original mathematical work.\nFrom then on, he published new research almost every year.\nIn 1856 Spottiswoode travelled in eastern [Russia](https://bliptext.com/articles/russia), and in 1860 in [Croatia](https://bliptext.com/articles/croatia) and [Hungary](https://bliptext.com/articles/hungary); of the former expedition he has left a record, A Tarantasse Journey through Eastern [Russia](https://bliptext.com/articles/russia) in the Autumn of 1856 (London, 1857).\nIn 1870 he was elected president of the [London Mathematical Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/london-mathematical-society).\nIn 1871 he began to turn his attention to experimental physics, his earlier researches bearing upon the light [polarization](https://bliptext.com/articles/polarization-waves) and his later work upon the electrical discharge in rarefied gases.\nHe wrote a popular treatise on the former subject for the Nature Series in 1874.\nIn 1878 he was elected president of the [British Association](https://bliptext.com/articles/british-association) and in the same year president of the [Royal Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/royal-society), of which he had been a fellow since 1853.\nHe died in London of [typhoid fever](https://bliptext.com/articles/typhoid-fever) on 27 June 1883 and was buried in the south transept of [Westminster Abbey](https://bliptext.com/articles/westminster-abbey).\nAs a mathematician, he occupied himself with many branches of his favorite science, more especially with higher algebra, including the theory of [determinants](https://bliptext.com/articles/determinant), with the general calculus of symbols, and with the application of analysis to geometry and mechanics.\nThe following brief review of his mathematical work is quoted from the obituary notice which appeared in the [Proceedings of the Royal Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/proceedings-of-the-royal-society) (xxxviii. 34):\nHis papers, numbering over 100, were published principally in the Philosophical Transactions, [Proceedings of the Royal Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/proceedings-of-the-royal-society), [Quarterly Journal of Mathematics](https://bliptext.com/articles/quarterly-journal-of-mathematics), [Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/proceedings-of-the-london-mathematical-society) and Crelle's Journal, and one or two in the [Comptes Rendus](https://bliptext.com/articles/comptes-rendus) of the Paris Academy; a list of them, arranged according to the several journals in which they originally appeared, with short notes upon the less familiar memoirs, is given in [Nature](https://bliptext.com/articles/nature-journal), xxvii, 599.\n\n# Publications\n

\n(Abridgements = Summaries or Shortened Versions of the Original Patents).\n

\n\n# Gallery","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-25T20:03:45.089Z","updated_at":"2025-01-25T20:03:45.089Z","search_vector":"'spottiswood':2 'william':1","search_content":" \n \n**Name:** William Spottiswoode \n**Birth Date:** January 11, 1825 \n**Birth Place:** London, England \n**Death Date:** June 27, 1883 \n**Death Place:** London, England \n**Nationality:** British \n**Field:** [Mathematics](https://bliptext.com/articles/mathematics), [physics](https://bliptext.com/articles/physics) \n**Alma Mater:** [Laleham](https://bliptext.com/articles/laleham) [Eton College](https://bliptext.com/articles/eton-college) [Harrow School](https://bliptext.com/articles/harrow-school) [Balliol College](https://bliptext.com/articles/balliol-college) \n \n\n# \n**William H. Spottiswoode** H[FRSE](https://bliptext.com/articles/frse) LLD (11 January 1825 – 27 June 1883) was an [English](https://bliptext.com/articles/english-people) [mathematician](https://bliptext.com/articles/mathematician), [physicist](https://bliptext.com/articles/physicist) and partner in the printing and publishing firm [Eyre & Spottiswoode](https://bliptext.com/articles/eyre-spottiswoode).\nHe was president of the [Royal Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/royal-society) from 1878 to 1883.\n\n# Biography\n\n## Early life\nSpottiswoode was born in London on 11 January 1825, the son of [Andrew Spottiswoode](https://bliptext.com/articles/andrew-spottiswoode) and his wife, Mary Longman.\nHis father was descended from an ancient Scottish family, represented [Colchester](https://bliptext.com/articles/colchester) in parliament for some years, and in 1831 became junior partner in the firm of [Eyre & Spottiswoode](https://bliptext.com/articles/eyre-spottiswoode), printers.\nWilliam was educated at Laleham Lea School, [Eton College](https://bliptext.com/articles/eton-college), and [Harrow School](https://bliptext.com/articles/harrow-school).\nHe then studied Mathematics and Physics at [Balliol College](https://bliptext.com/articles/balliol-college), [Oxford](https://bliptext.com/articles/oxford).\nHis talent for science showed itself while he was still a schoolboy, and indeed his removal from Eton to Harrow is said to have been occasioned by an accidental explosion which occurred whilst he was performing an experiment for his own amusement.\nAt Harrow he obtained a Lyon scholarship in 1842, and at Oxford in 1845 a first-class in mathematics, in 1846 the junior and in 1847 the senior university mathematical scholarship.\n\n## Family\nOn 27 November 1861 at [Bexley](https://bliptext.com/articles/bexley) in [Kent](https://bliptext.com/articles/kent), he married Elisa (\"Lise\") Taylor Arbuthnot (1837–1894), daughter of [William Urquhart Arbuthnot](https://bliptext.com/articles/william-urquhart-arbuthnot) (son of [Sir William Arbuthnot, 1st Baronet](https://bliptext.com/articles/sir-william-arbuthnot-1st-baronet)).\nTheir children included [William Hugh Spottiswoode](https://bliptext.com/articles/hugh-spottiswoode) (1864–1915) and Cyril Andrew Spottiswoode (1867–1915).\n\n# Career\nIn 1846 he left Oxford to take his father's place in the business, in which he was engaged until his death.\nIn 1847 Spottiswoode issued five pamphlets entitled Meditationes Analyticae, that explored complex mathematical ideas through analytic methods, particularly focusing on functions and calculus.\nThese pamphlets, among other things, exhibited advanced mathematical analytics and solutions to complex equations that examined the behavior of mathematical functions more deeply and precisely.\nThese were his first publications of original mathematical work.\nFrom then on, he published new research almost every year.\nIn 1856 Spottiswoode travelled in eastern [Russia](https://bliptext.com/articles/russia), and in 1860 in [Croatia](https://bliptext.com/articles/croatia) and [Hungary](https://bliptext.com/articles/hungary); of the former expedition he has left a record, A Tarantasse Journey through Eastern [Russia](https://bliptext.com/articles/russia) in the Autumn of 1856 (London, 1857).\nIn 1870 he was elected president of the [London Mathematical Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/london-mathematical-society).\nIn 1871 he began to turn his attention to experimental physics, his earlier researches bearing upon the light [polarization](https://bliptext.com/articles/polarization-waves) and his later work upon the electrical discharge in rarefied gases.\nHe wrote a popular treatise on the former subject for the Nature Series in 1874.\nIn 1878 he was elected president of the [British Association](https://bliptext.com/articles/british-association) and in the same year president of the [Royal Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/royal-society), of which he had been a fellow since 1853.\nHe died in London of [typhoid fever](https://bliptext.com/articles/typhoid-fever) on 27 June 1883 and was buried in the south transept of [Westminster Abbey](https://bliptext.com/articles/westminster-abbey).\nAs a mathematician, he occupied himself with many branches of his favorite science, more especially with higher algebra, including the theory of [determinants](https://bliptext.com/articles/determinant), with the general calculus of symbols, and with the application of analysis to geometry and mechanics.\nThe following brief review of his mathematical work is quoted from the obituary notice which appeared in the [Proceedings of the Royal Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/proceedings-of-the-royal-society) (xxxviii. 34):\nHis papers, numbering over 100, were published principally in the Philosophical Transactions, [Proceedings of the Royal Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/proceedings-of-the-royal-society), [Quarterly Journal of Mathematics](https://bliptext.com/articles/quarterly-journal-of-mathematics), [Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/proceedings-of-the-london-mathematical-society) and Crelle's Journal, and one or two in the [Comptes Rendus](https://bliptext.com/articles/comptes-rendus) of the Paris Academy; a list of them, arranged according to the several journals in which they originally appeared, with short notes upon the less familiar memoirs, is given in [Nature](https://bliptext.com/articles/nature-journal), xxvii, 599.\n\n# Publications\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n(Abridgements = Summaries or Shortened Versions of the Original Patents).\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n# Gallery","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

History