Rev. Henry William Watson FRS (25 February 1827,

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

11 January 1903,

Berkswell Berkswell ( ) is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, county of West Midlands, England. Historically in Warwickshire, Berkswell is situated in the rural east of the borough, approximately 2 miles (3.25 km) ...

near

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

) was a mathematician and author of a number of mathematics books. He was an ordained

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

and Cambridge Apostle.

Life

He was born at

on 25 Feb. 1827. He was the son of Thomas Watson, R.N., and Eleanor Mary Kingston. He was educated at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

and at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. He graduated as second wrangler and Smith's prizeman in 1850, Dr.

W. H. Besant William Henry Besant (1 November 1828 – 2 June 1917) was a British mathematician, brother of novelist Walter Besant. Another brother, Frank, was the husband of Annie Besant. Parentage William was born in Portsea, Portsmouth on 1 November 182 ...

being senior wrangler. He became fellow in 1851, and from 1851 to 1853 was assistant tutor. Watson formed a close friendship with

James Fitzjames Stephen Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, 1st Baronet, KCSI (3 March 1829 – 11 March 1894) was an English lawyer, judge, writer, and philosopher. One of the most famous critics of John Stuart Mill, Stephen achieved prominence as a philosopher, law re ...

, who entered Trinity in 1847. He was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1881. He and

Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton, FRS FRAI (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911), was an English Victorian era polymath: a statistician, sociologist, psychologist, anthropologist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto- ...

introduced the

Galton–Watson process The Galton–Watson process is a branching stochastic process arising from Francis Galton's statistical investigation of the extinction of family names. The process models family names as patrilineal (passed from father to son), while offspr ...

in 1875.

Books by H. W. Watson

The mathematical theory of electricity and magnetism (Volume 1: electrostatics)
(Clarendon, Oxford, 1885–1889)
The mathematical theory of electricity and magnetism (Volume 2: magnetism & electrodynamics)
(Clarendon, Oxford, 1885–1889)
A treatise on the application of generalised coordinates to the kinetics of a material system
(Clarendon, Oxford, 1879)
A treatise on the kinetic theory of gases
(Clarendon, Oxford, 1893)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Henry William 1827 births 1903 deaths Alumni of King's College London Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Second Wranglers Fellows of the Royal Society 19th-century English mathematicians