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DUNCAN MCLAREN YOUNG SOMMERVILLE was born at Beawar, Rajputana, on 1879 November 24. He was the son of the Rev. Dr. James Sommerville. He was educated for four years in a private school in Perth, Scotland, and afterwards at Perth Academy. He then proceeded to St Andrews University, where he took first-class honours in mathematics and natural philosophy. In 1905 he proceeded to the degree of Doctor of Science, his thesis dealing with Topology in Non-Euclidean Space. This choice of subject foreshadowed some of his later work, and in 1914 he published Elements of Non-Euclidean Geometry, a small book which appeared at a time when metrical systems other than that of Euclid were known only to a limited circle. Other textbooks subsequently published were Analytical Conics (1924), Introduction to the Geometry of n Dimensions (1929) and the recent Three Dimensional Geometry (1934), which appeared after his death.
In 1905 Sommerville was appointed a mathematical lecturer at St Andrews. He filled this post until 1915 when he became Professor of Pure and Applied Mathematics in Victoria University College, Wellington, New Zealand, where he gained a reputation as a great teacher and a helpful friend to his pupils. It was in the realms of geometry, and especially in the non-Euclidean geometries of Riemann and Lobatchewsky that he found full scope for his genius, but he had considerable interest in other sciences. He was one of the founders of the New Zealand Astronomical Society and was also its first Secretary. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society on 1926 April 9, but previously to that date two papers by him had appeared in the supplementary number of the Monthly Notices for 1919. The titles of these papers were "A Graphical Method of Predicting Occultations" and "The Form of an Eclipse Chart near the Pole." The fact that these papers were the first and last by Sommerville that appeared in the Monthly Notices is to be ascribed to the many interests he had apart from his own specialty of geometry. He was generally interested in physical science, and in 1924 he was President of Section A of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science on the occasion of the Adelaide meeting. He took an active interest in adult education in New Zealand. He was also a capable artist, and in the course of years he produced a pleasing collection of water colours of New Zealand scenery.
In addition to his books Sommerville was the author of more than thirty original papers and notes which have appeared in various journals. Naturally most of these deal with geometrical subjects. He died suddenly of heart failure on 1934 January 31, and his loss will be mourned by the mathematical world and by his old pupils who had come to regard him with esteem.
In 1905 Sommerville was appointed a mathematical lecturer at St Andrews. He filled this post until 1915 when he became Professor of Pure and Applied Mathematics in Victoria University College, Wellington, New Zealand, where he gained a reputation as a great teacher and a helpful friend to his pupils. It was in the realms of geometry, and especially in the non-Euclidean geometries of Riemann and Lobatchewsky that he found full scope for his genius, but he had considerable interest in other sciences. He was one of the founders of the New Zealand Astronomical Society and was also its first Secretary. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society on 1926 April 9, but previously to that date two papers by him had appeared in the supplementary number of the Monthly Notices for 1919. The titles of these papers were "A Graphical Method of Predicting Occultations" and "The Form of an Eclipse Chart near the Pole." The fact that these papers were the first and last by Sommerville that appeared in the Monthly Notices is to be ascribed to the many interests he had apart from his own specialty of geometry. He was generally interested in physical science, and in 1924 he was President of Section A of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science on the occasion of the Adelaide meeting. He took an active interest in adult education in New Zealand. He was also a capable artist, and in the course of years he produced a pleasing collection of water colours of New Zealand scenery.
In addition to his books Sommerville was the author of more than thirty original papers and notes which have appeared in various journals. Naturally most of these deal with geometrical subjects. He died suddenly of heart failure on 1934 January 31, and his loss will be mourned by the mathematical world and by his old pupils who had come to regard him with esteem.
Duncan McLaren Young Sommerville's obituary appeared in Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 95:4 (1935), 330-331.