W. W. Rouse Ball
{{Short description|English mathematician and lawyer (1850–1925)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = W. W. Rouse Ball
| image = wwrouseball.jpg
| birth_name = Walter William Rouse Ball
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1850|8|14|df=y}}
| birth_place = Hampstead, London, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1925|4|4|1850|8|14|df=y}}
| death_place = Cambridge, England
| field = Mathematics
| workplaces = Trinity College, Cambridge
| alma_mater = Trinity College, Cambridge
| doctoral_advisor =
| doctoral_students = Ernest Barnes
| known_for = {{hlist | Tessellations | magic squares | history of mathematics}}
| prizes =Smith's Prize (1874)
}}
Walter William Rouse Ball{{efn|Pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|ɔː|l|.|t|ər|_|ˈ|w|ɪ|l|.|j|ə|m|_|r|aʊ|s|_|b|ɔː|l}}.}} (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.{{Cite web|url=http://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pentacle_Club&redirect=no|title = Pentacle Club – Magicpedia}}{{cite journal |last1=Whittaker |first1=E. T. | author-link1 =E. T. Whittaker |date=October 1925 |title=Obituary: W. W. Rouse Ball |jstor=3604492 |journal=The Mathematical Gazette |volume=12 |issue=178 |pages=449–454 |doi=10.1017/S0025557200247207 |doi-access=free }}
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.{{acad|id=BL870WW|name=Ball, Walter William Rouse}}
He died on 4 April 1925 in Elmside, Cambridge, and is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.{{cite book
| last=Singmaster
| first=David
| chapter=1892 Walter William Rouse Ball, Mathematical recreations and problems of past and present times
| pages=653–663
| editor-last=Grattan-Guinness
| editor-first=I.
| title=Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 1640–1940
| year=2005
| publisher=Elsevier
| isbn=978-0-444-50871-3
}} See p. 658.
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}})
{{gutenberg|no=31246 |name=A Short Account of the History of Mathematics}} (1st ed. 1888 and later editions). Dover 1960 republication of fourth edition: [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31246/31246-pdf.pdf].
{{gutenberg|no=26839 |name=Mathematical Recreations and Essays}} (1st ed. 1892;{{cite journal|author=Oliver, J. E.|title=Review: Mathematical Recreations and Essays by W. W. Rouse Ball|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1892|volume=2|issue=3|pages=37–46|url=http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1892-02-03/S0002-9904-1892-00105-X/S0002-9904-1892-00105-X.pdf|doi=10.1090/S0002-9904-1892-00105-X |doi-access=free}} later editions with H.S.M. Coxeter){{cite journal|author=Frame, J. S.|title=Review: ''Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 11th edition, by W. W. Rouse Ball; revised by H. S. M. Coxeter|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1940|volume=45|issue=3|pages=211–213|url=http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1940-46-03/S0002-9904-1940-07170-8/S0002-9904-1940-07170-8.pdf|doi=10.1090/S0002-9904-1940-07170-8}}
- A History of the First Trinity Boat Club (1908)
{{gutenberg|no=54023 |name=Cambridge Papers}} (1st ed. 1918). Macmillan and Co., Limited 1918: [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54023].
- 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
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{wikisource}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{wikiquote|A Short Account of the History of Mathematics}}
- {{Gutenberg author | id=32266}}
- {{Internet Archive author |search=("Ball, W. W. Rouse" OR "W. W. Rouse Ball" OR "Walter William Rouse Ball" OR "Ball, Walter William Rouse")}}
- {{Librivox author |id=6113}}
- {{MacTutor Biography|id= Ball}}
- {{MathGenealogy |id=27230}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, W. W. Rouse}}
Category:19th-century English mathematicians
Category:20th-century English mathematicians
Category:British historians of mathematics
Category:Recreational mathematicians
Category:Mathematics popularizers
Category:Alumni of University College London
Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Category:Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge