James Cockle
Encyclopedia
Sir James Cockle FRS
FRAS
FCPS
FMS
(14 January 1819 – 27 January 1895) was an English
lawyer
and
mathematician
.
Cockle was born on the 14th of January 1819. He was the second son of James Cockle
, a surgeon
, of Great Oakley, Essex
. Educated at Charterhouse
and Trinity College
, Cambridge
, he entered the Middle Temple
in 1838, practising as a special pleader in 1845 and being called in 1846. Joining the midland
circuit, he acquired a good practice, and on the recommendation of Chief Justice
Sir William Erle
he was appointed as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland
in Queensland
, Australia
on 21 February 1863; he served until his retirement on 24 June 1879. Cockle was made a Fellow of the Royal Society
(FRS) on 1 June 1865. He received the honour of knighthood on 29 July 1869. He returned to England in 1878.
s and coquaternion
s, and worked with Arthur Cayley
(1821–1895) on the theory of linear algebra
. Like many young mathematicians he attacked the problem of solving the quintic equation
, notwithstanding Abel-Ruffini theorem that a solution by radical
s was impossible. In this field Cockle achieved some notable results, amongst which is his reproduction of Sir William R. Hamilton
's modification of Abel's theorem. Algebraic forms were a favourite object of his studies. He also made contributions to the theory of differential equation
s, in particular the development of the theory of differential invariant
s or criticoids.
He displayed a keen interest in scientific societies. From 1863 to 1879 he was president of the Queensland Philosophical Society (now incorporated in the Royal Society of Queensland
); on his return to England he became associated with the London Mathematical Society
, of which he was president from 1886 to 1888, and the Royal Astronomical Society
, serving as a member of the council from 1888 to 1892. He died in London
on the 27th of January 1895.
An obituary notice by the Revd. Robert Harley was published in 1895 in Proc. Roy. Soc. vol. 59. A volume containing his scientific and mathematical researches made during the years 1864–1877 was presented to the British Museum
in 1897 by his widow. Like his father, Sir James became extremely wealthy during his lifetime, leaving an estate of £32,169, which is approximately £2.7 million inflation adjusted as of 2008.
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
FRAS
Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV...
FCPS
FCPS
FCPS may refer to:*Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, faculty of political and social sciences at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , Mexico...
FMS
FMS
-Government agencies:* Federal Magistrates Service, the former name of the Federal Magistrates' Court of Australia* Federated Malay States , historical British protectorate in then British Malaya...
(14 January 1819 – 27 January 1895) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
.
Cockle was born on the 14th of January 1819. He was the second son of James Cockle
James Cockle (surgeon)
James Cockle was a prominent British surgeon and father of eventual Chief Justice of Queensland, Sir James Cockle.-Early life and education:...
, a surgeon
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
, of Great Oakley, Essex
Great Oakley, Essex
Great Oakley is a village and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex. It is a long, narrow parish lying on the top of a low ridge south of Ramsey Creek which drains northeast towards Harwich. The parish extends south to Oakley Creek, a branch of Hamford Water, where stood Great Oakley...
. Educated at Charterhouse
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
and Trinity College
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, he entered the Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
in 1838, practising as a special pleader in 1845 and being called in 1846. Joining the midland
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
circuit, he acquired a good practice, and on the recommendation of Chief Justice
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
The Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, was the second highest common law court in the English legal system until 1880, when it was dissolved. As such, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was one of the highest judicial officials in England, behind only the Lord...
Sir William Erle
William Erle
Sir William Erle PC QC FRS was an English lawyer, judge and Whig politician.-Early career:Born at Fifehead Magdalen, Dorset, William was the son of the Rev. Christopher Erle of Gillingham, Dorset and Margaret née Bowles, a relative of the poet William Lisle Bowles. His younger brother Peter Erle...
he was appointed as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland
Supreme Court of Queensland
The Supreme Court of Queensland, which is based at the Law Courts Complex, is the superior court for the Australian State of Queensland and sits around the middle of the Australian court hierarchy...
in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on 21 February 1863; he served until his retirement on 24 June 1879. Cockle was made a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
(FRS) on 1 June 1865. He received the honour of knighthood on 29 July 1869. He returned to England in 1878.
Mathematical and scientific investigations
Cockle is also remembered for his mathematical and scientific investigations. For instance he invented tessarineTessarine
In mathematics, a tessarine is a hypercomplex number of the formt = w + x i + y j + z k, \quad w, x, y, z \in Rwhere i j = j i = k, \quad i^2 = -1, \quad j^2 = +1 .The tessarines are best known for their subalgebra of real tessarines t = w + y j \ ,...
s and coquaternion
Coquaternion
In abstract algebra, the split-quaternions or coquaternions are elements of a 4-dimensional associative algebra introduced by James Cockle in 1849 under the latter name. Like the quaternions introduced by Hamilton in 1843, they form a four dimensional real vector space equipped with a...
s, and worked with Arthur Cayley
Arthur Cayley
Arthur Cayley F.R.S. was a British mathematician. He helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics....
(1821–1895) on the theory of linear algebra
Linear algebra
Linear algebra is a branch of mathematics that studies vector spaces, also called linear spaces, along with linear functions that input one vector and output another. Such functions are called linear maps and can be represented by matrices if a basis is given. Thus matrix theory is often...
. Like many young mathematicians he attacked the problem of solving the quintic equation
Quintic equation
In mathematics, a quintic function is a function of the formg=ax^5+bx^4+cx^3+dx^2+ex+f,\,where a, b, c, d, e and f are members of a field, typically the rational numbers, the real numbers or the complex numbers, and a is nonzero...
, notwithstanding Abel-Ruffini theorem that a solution by radical
Nth root
In mathematics, the nth root of a number x is a number r which, when raised to the power of n, equals xr^n = x,where n is the degree of the root...
s was impossible. In this field Cockle achieved some notable results, amongst which is his reproduction of Sir William R. Hamilton
William Rowan Hamilton
Sir William Rowan Hamilton was an Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician, who made important contributions to classical mechanics, optics, and algebra. His studies of mechanical and optical systems led him to discover new mathematical concepts and techniques...
's modification of Abel's theorem. Algebraic forms were a favourite object of his studies. He also made contributions to the theory of differential equation
Differential equation
A differential equation is a mathematical equation for an unknown function of one or several variables that relates the values of the function itself and its derivatives of various orders...
s, in particular the development of the theory of differential invariant
Differential invariant
In mathematics, a differential invariant is an invariant for the action of a Lie group on a space that involves the derivatives of graphs of functions in the space. Differential invariants are fundamental in projective differential geometry, and the curvature is often studied from this point of view...
s or criticoids.
He displayed a keen interest in scientific societies. From 1863 to 1879 he was president of the Queensland Philosophical Society (now incorporated in the Royal Society of Queensland
Royal Society of Queensland
The Royal Society of Queensland was formed in Queensland, Australia in 1884, with royal patronage granted in 1885.The aim of the Society is "Increasing awareness of natural sciences in Queensland"....
); on his return to England he became associated with the London Mathematical Society
London Mathematical Society
-See also:* American Mathematical Society* Edinburgh Mathematical Society* European Mathematical Society* List of Mathematical Societies* Council for the Mathematical Sciences* BCS-FACS Specialist Group-External links:* * *...
, of which he was president from 1886 to 1888, and the Royal Astronomical Society
Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV...
, serving as a member of the council from 1888 to 1892. He died in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on the 27th of January 1895.
An obituary notice by the Revd. Robert Harley was published in 1895 in Proc. Roy. Soc. vol. 59. A volume containing his scientific and mathematical researches made during the years 1864–1877 was presented to the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
in 1897 by his widow. Like his father, Sir James became extremely wealthy during his lifetime, leaving an estate of £32,169, which is approximately £2.7 million inflation adjusted as of 2008.
See also
- Judiciary of AustraliaJudiciary of AustraliaThe judiciary in Australia is modelled substantially on the system of courts which existed in England.The large number of courts and tribunals in Australia have different procedural powers and characteristics, different jurisdictional limits, different remedial powers and different cost...
- List of Judges of the Supreme Court of Queensland