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WILLIAM KINGDON CLIFFORD was born at Exeter on May 4, 1845. His father was a well-known and active citizen and filled the office of Justice of the Peace; he lost his mother early in life. He was educated at Exeter until 1860, when he was sent to King's College, London. In 1863 he came into residence at Trinity College, Cambridge, having previously obtained a minor scholarship. He was elected a scholar of the College and graduated as second wrangler in 1867, Mr. Charles Niven being the senior wrangler in that year. He was also second Smith's prizeman. In 1868 he was elected Fellow of Trinity and appointed Assistant Tutor. In 1871 he was elected to the Professorship of Applied Mathematics at University College, London, an office which he held until his death. On April 7, 1875, he married Lucy, daughter of Mr. John Lane, and granddaughter of Blandford Lane, of Barbados. In the spring of 1876, grave indications of a pulmonary disease were noted; these gradually increased, and in April 1878 he was compelled to leave England for the Mediterranean, when he visited Gibraltar, Venice, Malta, etc. There being signs of improvement, he returned to London in August 1878. A relapse, however, took place in September, and his strength began visibly to diminish. At the beginning of 1879 he sailed for Madeira, his friends hardly expecting him to survive the voyage. He arrived there, however, safely, and some weeks were thus added to his life, the change of climate enabling him to spend his last days in ease and comparative enjoyment. He died on March 3, 1879.
His first papers, published while he was an undergraduate, are "Analogues of Pascal's Theorem" (Quarterly Journal of Mathematics, vol. vi, 1863) and "On Jacobians and Polar Opposites" (Messenger of Mathematics, vol. ii, 1864); one of his last completed papers seems to have been "On the Classification of Loci," which appears in the Philosophical Transactions, 1878. Most of his contributions to mathematics were communicated to the London Mathematical Society. In 1877, he published the first portion of a book entitled The Elements of Dynamic, but his health prevented him from completing it. Many of the new terms employed in this work are already coming into general use He left in manuscript a considerable portion of a book On the Common Sense of the Exact Sciences, which is now being edited by Mr. R. C. Rowe, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and will shortly be printed.
Among the best-known of Clifford's general writings may be mentioned his lectures "On Some of the Conditions of Mental Development," delivered before the Royal Institution on March 6, 1868, and "On the Aims and Instruments of Scientific Thought," delivered before the British Association at Brighton on August 19, 1872. Several also of his addresses before the Sunday Lecture Society were published and attracted considerable attention. Since his death, his Lectures and Essays have been edited by Leslie Stephen and Frederick Pollock and published in two vols. 8vo., with an introduction, partly biographical, by F. Pollock; a republication of his mathematical writings, edited by Mr. R. Tucker, is in press.
Clifford was one of the few mathematicians who can rightly be said to have shown real mathematical genius: everything that he did was distinguished by an originality which, to his very age, rendered his work unique. He died at the early age of 34, and a great portion of even this short life was devoted to philosophy, metaphysics, and subjects of more general interest; so that it is difficult to realize the position he might have attained to in mathematical science had he confined his attention more exclusively to it, and had his life been longer. As it is, the scientific position he has gained is a permanent one, and it will always remain a matter of surprise how it was possible to write the brilliant papers he has left us among the distractions of so many other occupations
He was elected a Fellow of this Society on December 12, 1873, and of the Royal Society on June 4, 1874. He was a member of the Sicilian Expedition to observe the eclipse of December 22, 1870, and the account of his observations is published in vol. xli., pp. 310-311, of the Memoirs of the Society. A few of his remarks on the subject are also contained in vol. ii. of the Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (February 27, 1871).
His first papers, published while he was an undergraduate, are "Analogues of Pascal's Theorem" (Quarterly Journal of Mathematics, vol. vi, 1863) and "On Jacobians and Polar Opposites" (Messenger of Mathematics, vol. ii, 1864); one of his last completed papers seems to have been "On the Classification of Loci," which appears in the Philosophical Transactions, 1878. Most of his contributions to mathematics were communicated to the London Mathematical Society. In 1877, he published the first portion of a book entitled The Elements of Dynamic, but his health prevented him from completing it. Many of the new terms employed in this work are already coming into general use He left in manuscript a considerable portion of a book On the Common Sense of the Exact Sciences, which is now being edited by Mr. R. C. Rowe, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and will shortly be printed.
Among the best-known of Clifford's general writings may be mentioned his lectures "On Some of the Conditions of Mental Development," delivered before the Royal Institution on March 6, 1868, and "On the Aims and Instruments of Scientific Thought," delivered before the British Association at Brighton on August 19, 1872. Several also of his addresses before the Sunday Lecture Society were published and attracted considerable attention. Since his death, his Lectures and Essays have been edited by Leslie Stephen and Frederick Pollock and published in two vols. 8vo., with an introduction, partly biographical, by F. Pollock; a republication of his mathematical writings, edited by Mr. R. Tucker, is in press.
Clifford was one of the few mathematicians who can rightly be said to have shown real mathematical genius: everything that he did was distinguished by an originality which, to his very age, rendered his work unique. He died at the early age of 34, and a great portion of even this short life was devoted to philosophy, metaphysics, and subjects of more general interest; so that it is difficult to realize the position he might have attained to in mathematical science had he confined his attention more exclusively to it, and had his life been longer. As it is, the scientific position he has gained is a permanent one, and it will always remain a matter of surprise how it was possible to write the brilliant papers he has left us among the distractions of so many other occupations
He was elected a Fellow of this Society on December 12, 1873, and of the Royal Society on June 4, 1874. He was a member of the Sicilian Expedition to observe the eclipse of December 22, 1870, and the account of his observations is published in vol. xli., pp. 310-311, of the Memoirs of the Society. A few of his remarks on the subject are also contained in vol. ii. of the Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (February 27, 1871).
William Kingdon Clifford's obituary appeared in Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 40:4 (1880), 189-190.