W. W. Rouse Ball

Walter William Rouse Ball[lower-alpha 1] (14 August 1850 – 4 April 1925), known as W. W. Rouse Ball, was a British mathematician, lawyer, and fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1878 to 1905. He was also a keen amateur magician, and the founding president of the Cambridge Pentacle Club in 1919, one of the world's oldest magic societies.[1][2]

W. W. Rouse Ball
Born	Walter William Rouse Ball 14 August 1850 Hampstead, London, England
Died	4 April 1925 (aged 74) Cambridge, England
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Known for	Tessellations magic squares history of mathematics
Awards	Smith's Prize (1874)
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	Trinity College, Cambridge
Doctoral students	Ernest Barnes

Life

Born 14 August 1850 in Hampstead, London, Ball was the son and heir of Walter Frederick Ball, of 3, St John's Park Villas, South Hampstead, London. Educated at University College School, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1870, became a scholar and first Smith's Prizeman, and gained his BA in 1874 as second Wrangler. He became a Fellow of Trinity in 1875, and remained one for the rest of his life.[3]

He died on 4 April 1925 in Elmside, Cambridge, and is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.[4]

He is commemorated in the naming of the small pavilion, now used as changing rooms and toilets, on Jesus Green in Cambridge.

Books

• A History of the Study of Mathematics at Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1889 (reissued by the publisher, 2009, ISBN 978-1-108-00207-3)

• A Short Account of the History of Mathematics at Project Gutenberg (1st ed. 1888 and later editions). Dover 1960 republication of fourth edition: .

• Mathematical Recreations and Essays at Project Gutenberg (1st ed. 1892;[5] later editions with H.S.M. Coxeter)[6]
• A History of the First Trinity Boat Club (1908)

• Cambridge Papers at Project Gutenberg (1st ed. 1918). Macmillan and Co., Limited 1918: .
• String Figures; Cambridge, W. Heffer & Sons (1st ed. 1920, 2nd ed. 1921, 3rd ed. 1929, reprinted with supplements as Fun with String Figures by Dover Publications, 1971, ISBN 0-486-22809-6)

See also

• Martin Gardner – another author of recreational mathematics
• Rouse Ball Professor of English Law
• Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics

Notes

1. Pronounced /ˈwɔːl.tər ˈwɪl.jəm raʊs bɔːl/.

References

1. http://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pentacle_Club&redirect=no
2. Whittaker, E. T. (October 1925). "Obituary: W. W. Rouse Ball". The Mathematical Gazette. 12 (178): 449–454. JSTOR 3604492.
3. "Ball, Walter William Rouse (BL870WW)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
4. Singmaster 2005, p. 658
5. Oliver, J. E. (1892). "Review: Mathematical Recreations and Essays by W. W. Rouse Ball" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 2 (3): 37–46. doi:10.1090/S0002-9904-1892-00105-X.
6. Frame, J. S. (1940). "Review: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 11th edition, by W. W. Rouse Ball; revised by H. S. M. Coxeter" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 45 (3): 211–213. doi:10.1090/S0002-9904-1940-07170-8.

• Singmaster, David (2005), "1892 Walter William Rouse Ball, Mathematical recreations and problems of past and present times", in Grattan-Guinness, I. (ed.), Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 1640-1940, Elsevier, pp. 653–663, ISBN 978-0-444-50871-3

External links

• Works by W. W. Rouse Ball at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about W. W. Rouse Ball at Internet Archive
• Works by W. W. Rouse Ball at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "W. W. Rouse Ball", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.
• W. W. Rouse Ball at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
• W. W. Rouse Ball at Find a Grave