Mathematical Treasure: Alexander Macfarlane’s Lectures on Ten British Mathematicians and Principles of the Algebra of Logic

Author(s):

Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University)

Alexander Macfarlane (1851–1913) was a Scottish logician, physicist, and mathematician. As a student, he earned many honors and was particularly noted for his abilities in Greek and Latin. At the beginning of his career, his interest focused on mathematical physics, but later he worked on applied mathematics. Macfarlane enjoyed teaching careers in Scotland, the United States, and Canada, and his numerous publications were well-received. Lectures on ten British mathematicians of the nineteenth century, published posthumously in 1916 and based on talks he had given at Lehigh University in 1901–1904, became an immediate classic in historiography, or the writing of the history of mathematics.

Title page of Alexander Macfarlane's 1916 Lectures on ten British mathematicians of the nineteenth century.

Frontispiece from Alexander Macfarlane's 1916 Lectures on ten British mathematicians of the nineteenth century.

A biography of Macfarlane and the table of contents:

Page 3 from Alexander Macfarlane's 1916 Lectures on Ten British Mathematicians of the Nineteenth Century.

Page 4 from Alexander Macfarlane's 1916 Lectures on ten British mathematicians of the nineteenth century.

Table of contents from Alexander Macfarlane's 1916 Lectures on ten British mathematicians of the nineteenth century.

A full digitization of one of the copies owned by Harvard University is available at HathiTrust.

For an example of Macfarlane’s mathematical work, we can consider his 1879 Principles of the Algebra of Logic.

Testimonials and title page from Alexander Macfarlane's 1879 Principles of the Algebra of Logic.

Preface from Alexander Macfarlane's 1879 Principles of the Algebra of Logic.

Table of contents from Alexander Macfarlane's 1879 Principles of the Algebra of Logic.

Remainder of table of contents from Alexander Macfarlane's 1879 Principles of the Algebra of Logic.

A full digitization of the copy owned by the University of California can be found in the Internet Archive.

Index to Mathematical Treasures

Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University), "Mathematical Treasure: Alexander Macfarlane’s Lectures on Ten British Mathematicians and Principles of the Algebra of Logic," Convergence (January 2024)

Convergence

Tags:

History of Mathematics