Such Silver Currents: the Story of William and Lucy Clifford 1845-1929 By M. Chisholm A lively and insightful biography of the Victorian mathematician and philosopher William Clifford and his wife Lucy, the influential journalist and novelist. With a personal reflection on Clifford's contribution to mathematics by Sir Roger Penrose. ISBN-13: 9780718830175 Specifications: 234x152mm, 208pp, Paperback Price: £20.00 • US$42.50 Publication: March 2002 Order this Title Now

About this Book

This is the first biography of a mathematical genius and his literary wife, their wide circle of well-known intellectual and artistic friends, and through them of the age in which they lived.

William Clifford died in 1879 at the age of 33. During his short life he became renowned not only for his innovative and lasting mathematics, but also for his philosophy, which embraced the fundamentals of scientific thought, the nature of the physical universe, Darwinian evolutionary theory, the nature of consciousness, personal morality and law, and the whole mystery of being.

It is now recognised among mathematicians and physicists that Dirac's theory of the electron, fundamental to modern physics, is based on Clifford algebra. He also anticipated Einstein's idea that space is curved.

The year after his election to the Royal Society, Clifford married Lucy Lane, the journalist and novelist. During their four years of marriage they held Sunday salons which were attended by many well-known scientific, literary and artistic personalities. After William’s death, Lucy became a close friend and confidante of Henry James. Her wide circle of friends included Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Leslie Stephen, Thomas Huxley, Sir Frederick Macmillan, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Monty Chisholm has researched the lives of these two influential people from archive material, biographies of those who knew them, and hitherto unpublished collections of letters. Her insight, not only into the lives of the Cliffords, but also into the period in which they lived, makes for fascinating and lively reading. The book is further enhanced by a personal reflection on William Clifford's mathematics in the Afterword by the celebrated mathematician Sir Roger Penrose O.M.

Download the Contents and Introduction here (PDF, 74 KB)
Download Chapter 1 - Lucy's Early Years 1846-1875 here (PDF, 83 KB)
Download Chapter 2 - William's Childhood in Exeter 1845-1863 here (PDF, 132 KB)

About the Author

Monty Chisholm is Honorary Research Associate in Humanities at the University of Kent, and has been writing and speaking on the Cliffords for many years.