Arthur Cayley

Arthur Cayley was a noted British mathematician, famed for his contribution to the founding of the British school of pure mathematics. Born in England, he spent the first eight years of his life at St. Petersburg, Russia, where his father was a commercial agent.

On the family's return to England, he was educated initially at a private school and then at King's College School and finally at Trinity College, Cambridge. Although he received a fellowship at Cambridge he initially opted out of academic life, instead becoming a noted lawyer.

However, he continued his association with mathematics and at the age of forty-two returned to the University of Cambridge and devoted his life to the advancement of mathematics. Towards the end of his life Cayley suffered from a painful abdominal ailment and died from it on 26 January 1895.