Isaac TodhunterFRS (23 November 1820 – 1 March 1884), was anEnglishmathematician who is best known today for the books he wrote on mathematics and its history.
The son of George Todhunter, aNonconformist minister, and Mary (née Hume), he was born atRye,Sussex. He was educated atHastings, where his mother had opened a school after the death of his father in 1826. He was at first at a school run by Robert Carr, moving then to one opened byJohn Baptist Austin.[1]
Todhunter became an assistant master at a school atPeckham, attending at the same time evening classes at theUniversity College, London where he was influenced byAugustus De Morgan. In 1842 he obtained a mathematical scholarship and graduated as B.A. atLondon University, where he was awarded the gold medal on the M.A. examination. About this time he became mathematical master at a school atWimbledon.[2]
In 1844 Todhunter enteredSt John's College, Cambridge, where he wassenior wrangler in 1848, and gained the firstSmith's Prize and the Burney Prize; and in 1849 he was elected to a fellowship, and began his life of college lecturer and private tutor.[3] In 1862 he was made a fellow of theRoyal Society,[4] and in 1865 a member of theLondon Mathematical Society. In 1871 he gained theAdams Prize and was elected to the council of theRoyal Society. He was elected honorary fellow of St John's in 1874, having resigned his fellowship on his marriage in 1864. In 1880 his eyesight began to fail, and shortly afterwards he was attacked with paralysis.[2]
Todhunter married 13 August 1864 Louisa Anna Maria, eldest daughter of Captain (afterwards Admiral) George Davies, R.N. (at that time head of the county constabulary force). He died on 1 March 1884, at his residence, 6 Brookside, Cambridge. A mural tablet and medallion portrait were placed in the ante-chapel of his college by his widow, who, with four sons and one daughter, survived him.[2]
He was a sound Latin and Greek scholar, familiar with French, German, Spanish, Italian, and also Russian, Hebrew, and Sanskrit. He was well versed in the history of philosophy, and on three occasions acted as examiner for the moral sciencestripos.[2]
1886: (withKarl Pearson)A history of the theory of elasticity and of the strength of materials from Galilei to the present time Vol II Pt IVol II Pt II
^Cairns, W. D. (June–July 1934). "The Elements of Euclid. by Isaac Todhunter; Thomas L. Heath".The American Mathematical Monthly.41 (6): 383.doi:10.2307/2301562.JSTOR2301562.
^Kendall, M. G. (June 1963). "Isaac Todhunter's History of the Mathematical Theory of Probability".Biometrika. Studies in the History of Probability and Statistics. XIII.50 (1/2):204–205.doi:10.2307/2333762.JSTOR2333762.
^Gini, Corrado (1955). "A History of the Mathematical Theory of Probability from the time of Pascal to that of Laplace by I. Todhunter".Genus.11 (1/4):307–308.JSTOR29787294.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Todhunter, Isaac".Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 56. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
