Arthur Cayley Scientist

Arthur Cayley F.R.S. (/ˈkeɪli/; 16 August 1821 – 26 January 1895) was a British mathematician. He helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics.As a child, Cayley enjoyed solving complex maths problems for amusement. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he excelled in Greek, French, German, and Italian, as well as mathematics. He worked as a lawyer for 14 years.He postulated the Cayley–Hamilton theorem—that every square matrix is a root of its own characteristic polynomial, and verified it for matrices of order 2 and 3. He was the first to define the concept of a group in the modern way—as a set with a binary operation satisfying certain laws. Formerly, when mathematicians spoke of "groups", they had meant permutation groups. Cayley's theorem is named in honour of Cayley.

Personal facts

Birth date	August 16, 1821
Birth place	Surrey , United Kingdom , Richmond London
Nationality	United Kingdom
Date of death	January 26, 1895
Place of death	England , Cambridge , United Kingdom
Residence	England
Education	Trinity College Cambridge King's College School
Known for	Group theory Cayley–Dickson construction Cayley–Hamilton theorem Projective geometry