William Spottiswoode
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William Spottiswoode PRS |
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| Born |
11 January 1825 London, England |
| Died | 27 June 1883 (aged 58) London, England |
| Nationality | United Kingdom |
| Fields | Mathematics, physics |
| Alma mater |
Laleham Eton College Harrow School Balliol College |
William H. Spottiswoode PRS (11 January 1825 – 27 June 1883) was an English mathematician and physicist. He was President of the Royal Society from 1878 to 1883.
His father, Andrew Spottiswoode, who was descended from an ancient Scottish family, represented Colchester in parliament for some years, and in 1831 became junior partner in the firm of Eyre & Spottiswoode, printers.
William was educated at Laleham, Eton College, Harrow School and Balliol College, Oxford. His bent 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. At Harrow he obtained in 1842 a Lyon scholarship, and at Oxford in 1845 a first-class in mathematics, in 1846 the junior and in 1847 the senior university mathematical scholarship.
He married in Bexley 27 November 1861 Elisa ("Lise") Taylor Arbuthnot, daughter of William Urquhart Arbuthnot (grandson of Sir William Arbuthnot, 1st Baronet). They had children William Hugh Spottiswoode (1864–1916) and Cyril Andrew Spottiswoode (1867–1915).
In 1846 he left Oxford to take his father's place in the business, in which he was engaged until his death. In 1847 he issued five pamphlets entitled Meditationes analyticae. This was his first publication of original mathematical work; and from this time scarcely a year passed in which he did not give to the world further mathematical researches.
In 1856 Spottiswoode travelled in eastern Russia, and in 1860 in Croatia and Hungary; of the former expedition he has left a record, A Tarantasse Journey through Eastern Russia in the Autumn of 1856 (London, 1857).
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