Published 2002,
Lutterworth Press
Cambridge.
William and Lucy Clifford are
buried together in Highgate Cemetery near to Karl Marx's
tomb and close to George Eliot who knew and loved
them both. The gravestone bears these words .
William Kingdon Clifford, Born May 4th
1845 Died March 3rd 1879
I was not and was conceived: I loved and did a
little work. I am not and grieve not.
And Lucy his wife. Died April 21st 1929.
Oh, two such silver currents when they join do
glorify the banks that bound them in.
Lucy chose the silver currents
quotation from Shakespeare's King John and I
chose to use those words for the title of my
Clifford biography.
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Such Silver Currents
The Story of William and Lucy Clifford, 1845-1929
by Monty Chisholm
This is the first biography of the mathematical genius
and his literary wife. The story of their
lives, works and friendships reflects the intellectual
excitement and the social structure of the age in which
they lived. William Kingdon Clifford was an leading
mathematician, philosopher and FRS. His Clifford
Algebra is fundamental to Dirac's theory of the
electron and is now increasingly significant in
many areas of mathematics , physics and engineering.
Regular Clifford Algebra conferences are held
worldwideAfter William's early death Lucy Clifford
became a successful novelist and playwright. She ran a
Literary Salon at her home in London and had a very wide
circle of friends who came from every sphere of life. She saved
over one thousand letters from these famous friends and I was fortunate enough to
be given full access to this
treasure trove of previously
unpublished material. Extracts from the collection of
letters illuminate the book and open
a new window on the era Thus the book provides an original and lively
insight into an unexplored corner of Victorian and
Edwardian intellectual life.
Sir Michael Atiyah O.M . was kind
enough to write the foreword to Such Silver Currents
and a substantial Afterword and Reflection on William Clifford's
Contribution to Mathematics is contributed by by
Sir Roger Penrose O.M.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Monty Chisholm is an Honorary Research
Associate in Humanities at the University of Kent. With
Professor Marysa Demoor, she has edited annotated and published
the letters from Henry James to Lucy Clifford titled ' "Bravest
of women and finest of friends": Henry
James's Letters to Lucy Clifford.' English Literary
Studies. University of Victoria 1999
Monty Chisholm
monty@chisholm.ch or write to
6 King's Mews, St John's Place, Canterbury , Kent, CT1
1RB U.K.
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