Charles Howard Hinton (1853 – 30 April 1907) was a British mathematician and writer of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

works titled ''Scientific Romances''. He was interested in

higher dimensions In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coord ...

, particularly the fourth dimension. He is known for coining the word "

tesseract In geometry, a tesseract is the four-dimensional analogue of the cube; the tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of six square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of eig ...

" and for his work on methods of visualising the geometry of higher dimensions.

Life

Hinton's father,

James Hinton James Hinton may refer to: * James Hinton (musician) (born 1988), American musician known as The Range *James Hinton (surgeon) (1822–1875), English surgeon and author * James E. Hinton (c. 1937–2006), American cinematographer *James Myles Hinto ...

, was a surgeon and advocate of

polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...

. Charles Hinton was born in the United Kingdom. His siblings included the costume designer

Ada Nettleship Ada Nettleship (born Adaline Cort Hinton; 1856 – 19 December 1932) was a British dressmaker and costume designer known for working at the forefront of the Artistic Dress movement#Aesthetic dress, Aesthetic dress style and the Victorian dress re ...

(1856 – 1932). Hinton taught at

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Huggett ...

while he studied at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, where he obtained his B.A. in 1877. From 1880 to 1886, he taught at

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson (rector), Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oa ...

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

, where Howard Candler, a friend of

Edwin Abbott Abbott Edwin Abbott Abbott (20 December 1838 – 12 October 1926) was an English schoolmaster, theologian, and Anglican priest, best known as the author of the novella ''Flatland'' (1884). Biography Edwin Abbott Abbott was the eldest son of ...

's, also taught. Hinton also received his M.A. from Oxford in 1886. In 1880 Hinton married Mary Ellen, daughter of

Mary Everest Boole Mary Everest Boole (11 March 1832 in Wickwar, Gloucestershire – 17 May 1916 in Middlesex, England) was a self-taught mathematician who is best known as an author of didactic works on mathematics, such as ''Philosophy and Fun of Algebra'', an ...

and

George Boole George Boole (; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was a largely self-taught English mathematician, philosopher, and logician, most of whose short career was spent as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork in Ire ...

, the founder of mathematical logic. The couple had four children: George (1882–1943), Eric (*1884), William (1886–1909) and Sebastian (1887–1923) (inventor of the

jungle gym A jungle gym (called a climbing frame in British English) is a piece of playground equipment made of many pieces of material, such as metal pipes or ropes, on which participants can climb, hang, sit, and—in some configurations—slide. Monkey ...

and father of

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and

Joan Hinton Joan Hinton (Chinese name: 寒春, Pinyin: ''Hán Chūn''; 20 October 1921 – 8 June 2010) was a nuclear physicist and one of the few women scientists who worked for the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. She lived in the People's Republic of C ...

). In 1883 he went through a marriage ceremony with Maud Florence, by whom he had had twin children, under the assumed identity of John Weldon. He was subsequently convicted of

bigamy In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...

and spent three days in prison, losing his job at Uppingham. His father

was a radical advocate of polygamous relationships, and according to Charles' mother James had once remarked to her: "Christ was the saviour of Men but I am the saviour of Women and I don't envy him a bit." In 1887 Charles moved with Mary Ellen to Japan to work in a mission before accepting a job as headmaster of the Victoria Public School. In 1893 he sailed to the United States on the SS ''Tacoma'' to take up a post at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

as an instructor in mathematics. In 1897, he designed a gunpowder-powered baseball

pitching machine A pitching machine is a machine that automatically pitches a baseball to a batter at different speeds and styles. Most machines are hand-fed, but there are some that automatically feed. There are multiple types of pitching machines; softball, bas ...

for the Princeton baseball team's batting practice. The machine was versatile, capable of variable speeds with an adjustable breech size, and firing curve balls by the use of two rubber-coated steel fingers at the muzzle of the pitcher. He successfully introduced the machine to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, where Hinton worked as an assistant professor until 1900, when he resigned to move to the

U.S. Naval Observatory United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depo ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

At the end of his life, Hinton worked as an examiner of chemical patents for the

United States Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

. At age 54, he died unexpectedly of a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

on 30 April 1907 in

After Hinton's sudden death his wife, Mary Ellen, committed suicide, also in Washington, D.C., in May 1908.

Fourth dimension

Hinton-1904-Views of the Tessaract-aka Tesseract

In an 1880 article entitled "

What is the Fourth Dimension? What or WHAT may refer to: * What, an interrogative pronoun and adverb * "What?", one of the Five Ws used in journalism Film and television * ''What!'' (film) or ''The Whip and the Body'', a 1963 Italian film directed by Mario Bava * '' What ...

", Hinton suggested that points moving around in three dimensions might be imagined as successive cross-sections of a static four-dimensional arrangement of lines passing through a three-dimensional plane, an idea that anticipated the notion of

world line The world line (or worldline) of an object is the path that an object traces in 4-dimensional spacetime. It is an important concept in modern physics, and particularly theoretical physics. The concept of a "world line" is distinguished from con ...

s. Hinton's explorations of higher space had a moral basis:

Hinton argues that gaining an intuitive perception of higher space required that we rid ourselves of the ideas of right and left, up and down, that inheres in our position as observers in a three-dimensional world. Hinton calls the process "casting out the self", equates it with the process of sympathizing with another person, and implies the two processes are mutually reinforcing.

Hinton created several new words to describe elements in the fourth dimension. According to the

OED The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

, he first used the word ''

'' in 1888 in his book ''

A New Era of Thought ''A New Era of Thought'' is a non-fiction work written by Charles Howard Hinton, published in 1888 and reprinted in 1900 by Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Ltd., London. ''A New Era of Thought'' is about the fourth dimension and its implications on human ...

''.

Alicia Boole Stott Alicia Boole Stott (8 June 1860 – 17 December 1940) was an Irish mathematician. Despite never holding an academic position, she made a number of valuable contributions to the field, receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Groni ...

, his sister in law who knew him at Oxford supervised the publication of the book whilst he was abroad. He also invented the words ''kata'' (from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

for "down from") and ''ana'' (from the Greek for "up toward") to describe the additional two opposing fourth-dimensional directions (an additional 4th axis of motion analogous to left-right (x), up-down (y), and forwards-backwards (z)). Hinton's ''

Scientific romance Scientific romance is an archaic, mainly British term for the genre of fiction now commonly known as science fiction. The term originated in the 1850s to describe both fiction and elements of scientific writing, but it has since come to refer to ...

s'', including "What is the Fourth Dimension?" and "A Plane World", were published as a series of nine pamphlets by Swan Sonnenschein & Co. during 1884–1886. In the introduction to "A Plane World", Hinton referred to Abbott's recent ''

Flatland ''Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions'' is a satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott, first published in 1884 by Seeley & Co. of London. Written pseudonymously by "A Square", the book used the fictional two-dime ...

'' as having similar design but different intent. Abbott used the stories as "a setting wherein to place his satire and his lessons. But we wish in the first place to know the physical facts." Hinton's world existed along the perimeter of a circle rather than on an infinite flat plane. He extended the connection to Abbott's work with ''An Episode of Flatland: Or How a Plane Folk Discovered the Third Dimension'' (1907).

''An Episode of Flatland or How a Plane Folk Discovered the Third Dimension…'' (1907)

''An Episode of Flatland or How a Plane Folk Discovered the Third Dimension, to which is bound up An Outline of the History of Unæa'' made its public debut in 1907, even receiving a paragraph review (though not particularly flattering) in the British scientific journal ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' (1907). The action plays out in the planar world of two-dimensional ''"Astria"'' with the primary characters partaking in various adventures, scientific and romantic. Ultimately, some ''"Astrians"'' come to accept and comprehend the reality and fullness of three-dimensions in a world beyond their immediate comprehension. The book consists of a ''Preface'', ''Introduction'', a post-introductory section titled ''The History of Astria'', and the ''Episode'' (referred to in the title) composed of twenty short chapters. Overall, it is longer than

Edwin A. Abbott Edwin Abbott Abbott (20 December 1838 – 12 October 1926) was an English schoolmaster, theologian, and Anglican priest, best known as the author of the novella ''Flatland'' (1884). Biography Edwin Abbott Abbott was the eldest son of ...

's novella ''Flatland…'' (1884); Hinton's narrative contains approximately 53,720 words. Hinton's work combines various literary and scientific features, with the author intent on popularizing the idea of ''"higher dimensions"'' among educated

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

readers including such diverse groups as religious thinkers and believers, experimental scientists, artists, stodgy academics, engineers, politicians, and others of various persuasions and agendas. Recognizing the existence of, and even reaching, a ''"higher

dimension In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a Space (mathematics), mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any Point (geometry), point within it. Thus, a Line (geometry), lin ...

"'' was not simply part and parcel to a strictly mathematical game; for Charles H. Hinton (1907), during an era when

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

(with the obligatory séances) was running rampant, it was important to point the way toward a higher realm of existence in both intellectual and genuinely spiritual terms.

Influence

Hinton's advocacy of the

as a means to perceive higher dimensions spawned a long lineage of science fiction, fantasy, and spiritual works that similarly refer to the tesseract as a way to understand—or even access—higher dimensions, including

Charles Leadbeater Charles Leadbeater, also known as Charlie Leadbeater, is a British author and former advisor to Tony Blair. Biography A graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, he first came to widespread notice in the 1980s as a regular contributor to the magaz ...

's ''Clairvoyance'' (1899),

Claude Bragdon Claude Fayette Bragdon (August 1, 1866 – 1946) was an American architect, writer, and stage designer based in Rochester, New York, up to World War I, then in New York City. The designer of Rochester’s New York Central Railroad terminal ...

's ''A Primer of Higher Space'' (1913),

Algernon Blackwood Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE (14 March 1869 – 10 December 1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary cri ...

's ''Victim of Higher Space'' (1914), H. P. Lovecraft's ''

The Shadow Out of Time ''The Shadow Out of Time'' is a novella by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of ''Astounding Stories''. The story describes time and ...

'' (1935),

Robert Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

's ''

"—And He Built a Crooked House—" '—And He Built a Crooked House—' is a science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' in February 1941. It was reprinted in the anthology '' Fantasia Mathematica'' (Clifton ...

'' (1941),

Madeleine L'Engle Madeleine L'Engle DStJ (; November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007) was an American writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young adult fiction, including ''A Wrinkle in Time'' and its sequels: ''A Wind in the Door'', ''A Swiftly Tilting Plan ...

's ''

A Wrinkle in Time ''A Wrinkle in Time'' is a Young adult fiction, young adult science fantasy novel written by American author Madeleine L'Engle. First published in 1962, the book won the Newbery Medal, the Sequoyah Book Award, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and ...

'' (1962), and

Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Cinema of the United States, Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. ...

's film '' Interstellar'' (2014).White, Christopher G., 2018. ''Other Worlds: Spirituality and the Search for Invisible Dimensions''. Harvard University Press. Hinton was one of the many thinkers who circulated in

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

's pantheon of writers. Hinton is mentioned in Borges' short stories "

Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" is a short story by the 20th-century Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. The story was first published in the Argentinian journal '' Sur'', May 1940. The "postscript" dated 1947 is intended to be anachronistic, se ...

", " There Are More Things" and "El milagro secreto" ("

The Secret Miracle "The Secret Miracle" (original Spanish title: "El milagro secreto") is a short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. It was first published in the magazine '' Sur'' in February 1943 and was collected in ''Ficciones''. Plot The main ...

"): Hinton influenced P. D. Ouspensky's thinking. Many of ideas Ouspensky presents in "Tertium Organum" mention Hinton's works. Hinton's "scientific romance", the "Unlearner", is cited by

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...

in ''Art as Experience'', chapter 3. The story described by

is actually titled "An Unfinished Communication" and is part of the second series of "Scientific Romances". The Unlearner is a character in this story, which might explain why

confused the title of the story. Hinton is the main character in

Carlos Atanes Carlos Atanes (born November 8, 1971) is a Spanish film director, writer and playwright. He was born in Barcelona, and is a member of The Film-Makers' Cooperative, founded by Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, Ken Jacobs, Andy Warhol, Jack Smith an ...

's play ''Un genio olvidado (Un rato en la vida de Charles Howard Hinton)'' ("A Forgotten Genius (The Life and Time of Charles Howard Hinton)"). The play premiered in Madrid during May 2015, and was published in May 2017. Hinton is mentioned several times in

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

's graphic novel ''

From Hell ''From Hell'' is a graphic novel by writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell, originally published in serial form from 1989 to 1998. The full collection was published in 1999 by Top Shelf Productions. Set during the Whitechapel murders of ...

''; his theories regarding the fourth dimension form the basis of the book's final chapter. His father, James Hinton, appears in chapters 4 and 10. He is mentioned twice in

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...

's novel '' Moonchild''. The first mention mistakenly names his father, James Hinton.

Works

* an
2nd series at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

*''

'', orig. 1888, reprinted 1900, by Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Ltd., London *''The Fourth Dimension'', orig. 1904, 1912 by Ayer Co., Kessinger Press reprint, , a
Project Gutenberg
scanned version available online a
the Internet Archive
*''Speculations on the Fourth Dimension: Selected Writings of Charles H. Hinton'', edited by Rudolf Rucker, 1980, Dover Publications, (includes selections from ''Scientific Romances'', ''The Fourth Dimension'', "The Recognition of the Fourth Dimension" from the 1902 Bulletin of the

Philosophical Society of Washington Founded in 1871, the Philosophical Society of Washington is the oldest scientific society in Washington, D.C. It continues today as PSW Science. Since 1887, the Society has met regularly in the assembly hall of the Cosmos Club. In the Club's pr ...

, and excerpts from ''An Episode of Flatland'') * ''An Episode of Flatland or How a Plane Folk Discovered the Third Dimension'' orig 1907, Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Limd., uncut illustrated HTML version online a
Forgotten Futures
*

(1880)

Notes

External links

* *
Hinton's writings at ibiblio.org
* * * *
Digitized works by Charles Howard Hinton
at

Toronto Public Library Toronto Public Library (TPL) (french: Bibliothèque publique de Toronto) is a public library system in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest public library system in Canada, and in 2008 had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other pu ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinton, Charles Howard 1853 births 1907 deaths 19th-century British mathematicians 19th-century British novelists 20th-century British mathematicians Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford British people convicted of bigamy British science fiction writers British Theosophists People educated at Uppingham School Hinton family