Arthur W. Conway

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Arthur William Conway

mathematical physicist who wrote one of the first books on relativity and co-edited two volumes of William Rowan Hamilton's collected works. He also served as President of University College Dublin between 1940 and 1947.[2]

Life and career

Memorial plaque in Wexford town

Born in

St. Patrick's College, Maynooth
.

He married Agnes Christina Bingham on 19 August 1903; they had three daughters and one son.[2]

Conway (front row 5th from left) and Valera (4th from left) at Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in 1942

One of Conway's students was Éamon de Valera, whom he introduced to Hamilton's quaternions.[2] De Valera warmed to the subject and engaged in research of this novelty of abstract algebra. Later, when de Valera became Taoiseach (he was also subsequently President of Ireland), he called upon Conway while forming the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.[3]

Conway's earliest publications, dating back to 1903, were on the electromagnetic theory. He is remembered for his application of

J. Lambek
in 1950.

In 1918, he was the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate in South Londonderry and in the National University, coming second in both.[10]

Arthur Conway continued his scholarship in the fields of mathematics and theoretical physics, and made a special study of William Rowan Hamilton. With J. L. Synge, he edited the first volume of Hamilton's mathematical papers[11] and with A. J. McConnell he edited the second volume of Hamilton's mathematical papers.[12] Conway was also active in college life, being appointed Registrar, a position he occupied until his election as president in 1940.[13] He retired in 1947 from the presidency of UCD. In 1953, some of his writings were edited by J. McConnell for publication by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.[14]

He was an Invited Speaker of the ICM in Toronto in 1924,[15] in 1932 in Zurich, and in 1936 in Oslo. He was elected President of the Royal Irish Academy from 1937 to 1940.

In October 1975, to mark the centenary of his birth, UCD hosted the AC Conway Memorial Mathematical Symposium. Speakers included Roger Penrose, Ian Sneddon, and William B. Bonnor.

In his obituary,

E.T. Whittaker referred to Conway as the "most distinguished Irish Catholic man of science of his generation."[16]

Books

  • 1915: Relativity, G. Bell & Sons (Edinburgh Mathematical Tracts No. 3) via Internet Archive
  • 1931: The Mathematical Papers of Sir William Rowan Hamilton: Volume 1, Geometrical Optics, Cambridge (edited with
    J L Synge
    )
  • 1940: The Mathematical Papers of Sir William Rowan Hamilton: Volume 2, Dynamics, Cambridge (edited with J L Synge)

References

  1. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1951.0004
    .
  2. ^ a b c d O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Arthur W. Conway", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
  3. ^ De Valera School of Mathematics and Statistics University of St Andrews, Scotland
  4. ^ Arthur W. Conway (1911) "On the application of quaternions to some recent developments in electrical theory", Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 29 A:1–9
  5. ^ A.W. Conway (1912) "The quaternionic form of relativity", Philosophical Magazine (6) 24:208
  6. ISBN 0-387-91192-8
  7. Proceedings of the Royal Society A
    191:137–45
  8. ^ A.W. Conway (1948) "Quaternions and quantum mechanics" Pontificia Academia Scientiarum, Acta Vol. XII-N.23, 1948
  9. ^ J. Lambek (1950) "Biquaternion vector fields over Minkowski space", PhD thesis, April 1950
  10. ISBN 0901714127
    .
  11. doi:10.1038/123349c0
    .
  12. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1942-07796-2
    .
  13. ^ "Arthur W. Conway". UCD Archives. Archived from the original on 25 August 2006. Retrieved 29 August 2006.
  14. ^ J. McConnell (1953) Selected Papers of Arthur William Conway, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
  15. ^ Conway, A. W. "The mathematical works of Sir W. R. Hamilton". In: Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto, August 11–16. 1924. Vol. 2. p. 984.
  16. ^ Whittaker, E. T. (1951). "Arthur William Conway. 1875–1950", 329.
Academic offices
Preceded by President of the University College Dublin
1940–1947 		Succeeded by
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