Arthur Cayley was born on August 16, 1821 in England. His father Henry was one of the merchants working in St Petersburg and his mother, Marie Antonia was believed to have Russian ancestors. After his father’s retirement, the family settled in Blackheath, England. Arthur entered the senior department of King’s college at the age of 14. Later Cayley went up to Trinity College, Cambridge in October 1838, and won a college scholarship. In the highly competitive examination Cayley came the first in his year and became Senior Wrangler of 1842. Not only mathematics but Cayley also was interested in reading novels, and he appreciated architecture and painting. He also loved travelling and enjoyed scrambling in the Alps.
Cayley’s academic successes led to his election to a Trinity minor fellowship which lasted 7 years. During this period, Cayley published wide range of mathematical subjects. After his fellowship he was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn in April 1846 and trained as a barrister. He was called to the bar in 1849 and had a peaceful office in Lincoln’s Inn where he pursued his mathematical work when not engaged in conveyancing. Cayley devoted in invariant theory studying the effect of linear transformation on algebraic expressions such as binary forms. For a number of years Cayley continued his research with his job. In 1863, he was elected to a new professorship at Cambridge. In September 1863 Cayley married Susan of Greenwich, who gave birth two children, Mary and Henry. Although Cayley researched many works and the list of his publications extends to over 800 items, he wrote only one book himself, A Treatise on Elliptic Functions, published in 1876. In his works there are many brilliant ideas which we know with exciting possibilities. He introduced the notion of abstract group as opposed to permutation group, also he wrote about determinants and matrices which went to Frobenius to deal with them. Cayley took a particular interest in the education of women. He influenced the council of the institution(Later Newnham College) as a chairmen to allow women to become a member of Cambridge University. When Charlotte Angas Scott entered Girton in 1876, the college had been open for 7 years. Her success was a break-through for the higher education of women in England. She sttended Cayley’s lectures and wrote her thesis under his supervision. Because of the rule at Cambridge, she achieved doctorate at the University of London in 1885. Cayley was elected an honorary fellow of Trinity in 1872 and served on the Council of Senate. He presided over the London Mathematical Society once and the British Association for the Advancement of Science at another. Honorary degrees arrived from universities and academic societies, notably first a Royal medal and then the Copley medal of the Royal Society. He died on January 26, 1895 at the age of 73.
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