Life and work of George Salmon (1819--1904)

Abstract

George Salmon achieved prominence both as a mathematician and theologian during the nineteenth century. He was one of the originators, with Cayley and Sylvester, of invariant theory in the 1850s, and published a series of four textbooks on geometric topics which incorporate many of his discoveries. These works in their several editions were pre-eminent in the mathematical literature for fifty years and more, and were translated into most major European languages. I present here a brief survey of Salmon's life and work, drawing on some less familiar sources and revealing aspects of his work and character that are not mentioned in the standard biographical sources. The essay is an extended version of a lecture given by the author at Trinity College Dublin on 6 April 2005.