Arthur Cayley Letters to Robert Harley, 1859-1863

Digital Record

Identifier: SC MS 0132 (digital)

Staff Only

Digital Object (text)

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Dates

Creation: Majority of material found within 1859-09-24 - 1863-02-05

Creator

Cayley, Arthur, 1821-1895 (Person)

Summary

This collection contains letters written from London by Cayley to Rev. Robert Harley between 24 September 1859 and 5 February 1863. Many of these letters deal with details of invariant-theoretic calculations that Cayley and Harley performed. Harley's name does not appear in any of these letters and his identity has been deduced from internal evidence.

Biographical / Historical

Arthur Cayley (1821-1895) was an English mathematician whose works dealt largely with algebra. Cayley received both a B.A. and an M.A. from Trinity College, Cambridge, during which time, he prepared 28 memoirs to the Mathematical Journal. He then became a solicitor with a focus on conveyancing. Around 1860, he returned to Cambridge where he became the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a position previously held by Isaac Newton. While the majority of his work centered around algebra, he also made contributions to the field of algebraic geometry. In 1876, he published Elliptic Functions. Cayley was also a proponent of women’s education, teaching at Cambridge’s women’s colleges.

Reverand Robert Harley (1828-1910) was an English minister and mathematician. In 1854, Harley entered the Congregational ministry. He served as the chair of mathematics and logic at Airedale College from 1864 to 1868. In 1863, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. He later held ministerial positions in Australia and Canada before returning to English. Later in his life, he was an advocate of temperance.