Alfred Kempe

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Sir Alfred Kempe

Born July 7, 1849 (1849-07-07)
Kensington, London, England
Died April 21, 1922 (aged 72)
London, England
Influenced Charles Peirce

Sir Alfred Bray Kempe D.C.L. F.R.S. (6 July 1849, Kensington, London – 21 April 1922, London) was a mathematician best known for his work on linkages and the four color theorem.

Kempe studied at Trinity College, Cambridge where Arthur Cayley was one of his teachers. He graduated with distinction in 1874. Despite his interest in mathematics he became a barrister, specializing in the ecclesiastical law. He was knighted in 1913, the same year he become the Chancellor for the Diocese of London. He received the honorary degree D.C.L. from the University of Durham.

In 1877 Kempe rediscovered a straight line linkage and published his influential lectures on the subject. In 1879 he wrote his famous "proof" of the four color theorem, shown incorrect by Percy Heawood in 1890. Much later, his work lead to fundamental concepts such as the Kempe chain and unavoidable sets.

Kempe (1886) revealed a rather marked philosophical bent, and much influenced Charles Peirce. Kempe also discovered what are now called multisets, although this fact was not noted until long after his death.

Kempe was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1881. He was a president of the London Mathematical Society from 1892 to 1894. He was also a mountain climber, mostly in Switzerland.

[edit] References

  • Ivor Grattan-Guinness (2000) The Search for Mathematical Roots 1870-1940. Princeton Univ. Press.
  • Kempe, A. B. (1886) "A memoir on the theory of mathematical form," Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 177: 1-70.

[edit] External links

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