Arthur Cayley
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Cayley, Arthur
(kā`lē), 1821–95, English mathematician. He was admitted to the bar in 1849. In 1863 he was appointed first Sadlerian professor of mathematics at Cambridge. His researches, which covered the field of pure mathematics, included especially the theory of matrices (see matrixmatrix,in mathematics, a rectangular array of elements (e.g., numbers) considered as a single entity. A matrix is distinguished by the number of rows and columns it contains. The matrix
is a 2×3 (read "2 by 3") matrix, because it contains 2 rows and 3 columns.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and the theory of invariants. The algebra of matrices was the tool HeisenbergHeisenberg, Werner
, 1901–76, German physicist. One of the founders of the quantum theory, he is best known for his uncertainty principle, or indeterminacy principle, which states that it is impossible to determine with arbitrarily high accuracy both the position and
..... Click the link for more information. used in 1925 for his revolutionary work in quantum mechanics (see quantum theoryquantum theory,
modern physical theory concerned with the emission and absorption of energy by matter and with the motion of material particles; the quantum theory and the theory of relativity together form the theoretical basis of modern physics.
..... Click the link for more information. ). The concept of invariance is important in modern physics, particularly in the theory of relativityrelativity,
physical theory, introduced by Albert Einstein, that discards the concept of absolute motion and instead treats only relative motion between two systems or frames of reference.
..... Click the link for more information. . Cayley's collected papers were published in 13 volumes (1889–98).
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Cayley, Arthur
Born Aug. 16, 1821, in Richmond; died Jan. 26, 1895, in Cambridge. British mathematician.
Cayley was appointed professor at Cambridge University in 1863. His major works were devoted to the theory of algebraic quadratic forms. He established a connection between the theory of invariants and projective geometry. His studies in this field are the basis for an interpretation of Lobachevskii’s geometry (the Cayley-Klein interpretation). Cayley was also the author of works on the theory of determinants, differential equations, and elliptic functions. He also conducted investigations in spherical astronomy and astrophysics.
REFERENCE
Noether, M. “Arthur Cayley.” Mathematische Annalen, 1895, vol. 46, pp. 462–80.The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.