Duncan MacLaren Young Sommerville
Encyclopedia
Duncan MacLaren Young Sommerville (1879–1934) was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer, best known for his work in multidimensional geometry. He was a co-founder and the first secretary of the New Zealand Astronomical Society.
Sommerville was also an accomplished watercolourist, producing a series of works of the New Zealand landscape.
The middle name 'MacLaren' is spelt úsing the old orthography
M'Laren in some sources, for example the records of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
.
. The Rev Dr James Sommerville had been responsible for establishing the hospital at Jodhpur
, Rajputana.
The family returned home to Scotland, where Duncan first spent 4 years at a private school in Perth
, before being sent to Perth Academy
. He then studied at the University of St Andrews
in Fife. He taught there from 1902 to 1914.
Sommerville was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
in 1911.
of Wellington.
Sommerville most famous for his work on geometries in higher dimensions (in addition the classical geometries: Euclidean
, spherical
and hyperbolic
). He found 3d geometries in dimension d.
He also discovered and proved the celebrated Dehn-Sommerville equations
for the number of faces of convex polytope
s.
Sommerville was also an accomplished watercolourist, producing a series of works of the New Zealand landscape.
The middle name 'MacLaren' is spelt úsing the old orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
M'Laren in some sources, for example the records of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity, operating on a wholly independent and non-party-political basis and providing public benefit throughout Scotland...
.
Early life
Sommerville was born in India where his father was employed as a missionary doctor by the United Presbyterian Church of ScotlandUnited Presbyterian Church of Scotland
The United Presbyterian Church of Scotland was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination. It was formed in 1847 by the union of the United Secession Church and the Relief Church, and in 1900 merged with the Free Church of Scotland to form the United Free Church of Scotland, which in turn united with...
. The Rev Dr James Sommerville had been responsible for establishing the hospital at Jodhpur
Jodhpur
Jodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located west from the state capital, Jaipur and from the city of Ajmer. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar...
, Rajputana.
The family returned home to Scotland, where Duncan first spent 4 years at a private school in Perth
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
, before being sent to Perth Academy
Perth Academy
Perth Academy is a state comprehensive secondary school in the Scottish town of Perth. It was founded in 1760. The standard week at Perth Academy for students is Monday to Friday from 8.55am to 3.30pm, although this may differ for students taking part in any extra curricula activities. The...
. He then studied at the University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
in Fife. He taught there from 1902 to 1914.
Sommerville was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity, operating on a wholly independent and non-party-political basis and providing public benefit throughout Scotland...
in 1911.
Work in New Zealand
In 1915 Sommerville went to New Zealand to take up the Chair of Pure and Applied Mathematics at the Victoria CollegeVictoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...
of Wellington.
Sommerville most famous for his work on geometries in higher dimensions (in addition the classical geometries: Euclidean
Euclidean geometry
Euclidean geometry is a mathematical system attributed to the Alexandrian Greek mathematician Euclid, which he described in his textbook on geometry: the Elements. Euclid's method consists in assuming a small set of intuitively appealing axioms, and deducing many other propositions from these...
, spherical
Spherical geometry
Spherical geometry is the geometry of the two-dimensional surface of a sphere. It is an example of a geometry which is not Euclidean. Two practical applications of the principles of spherical geometry are to navigation and astronomy....
and hyperbolic
Hyperbolic geometry
In mathematics, hyperbolic geometry is a non-Euclidean geometry, meaning that the parallel postulate of Euclidean geometry is replaced...
). He found 3d geometries in dimension d.
He also discovered and proved the celebrated Dehn-Sommerville equations
Dehn-Sommerville equations
In mathematics, the Dehn–Sommerville equations are a complete set of linear relations between the numbers of faces of different dimension of a simplicial polytope. For polytopes of dimension 4 and 5, they were found by Max Dehn in 1905. Their general form was established by Duncan Sommerville in...
for the number of faces of convex polytope
Convex polytope
A convex polytope is a special case of a polytope, having the additional property that it is also a convex set of points in the n-dimensional space Rn...
s.
External links
- Obituary, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 95, p. 330-331.
- Mathematics At Victoria In Retrospect - Notes for a talk to the Mathematics and Physics Society on 22 May 1974 by C J Seelye.