- Scottish mathematician
whose Theory of Functions 1893 introduced the main strands of European
mathematical study to British mathematicians. Bringing together the
work of all the various schools in a single volume, the book completely
changed the nature of mathematical thinking.
Forsyth was born in Glasgow and studied at Cambridge. He was professor
at Liverpool College 1882-84, but spent most of his career at Cambridge.
From 1913 to 1923 he was professor at Imperial College, London.
He formulated a theorem that generalized a large number of identities
between double theta functions; because this work was also carried out
independently yet simultaneously by Henry Smith (1826-1883), the theorem
is now called the Smith-Forsyth theorem.
Forsyth also studied languages, enabling him to translate the works
of others and to introduce their ideas to the UK. His Theory of Functions
stimulated such rapid developments in mathematics that Forsyth was soon
left behind.
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