Such Silver Currents: The story of William and Lucy Clifford, 1845-1929 [Paperback]

Monty Chisholm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 14, 2002

This is the first biography of a mathematical genius and his literary wife, their wide circle of well-known intellectual and artistic friends, and through them of the age in which they lived. William Clifford died in 1879 at the age of 33. During his short life he became renowned not only for his innovative and lasting mathematics, but also for his philosophy, which embraced the fundamentals of scientific thought, the nature of the physical universe, Darwinian evolutionary theory, the nature of consciousness, personal morality and law, and the whole mystery of being. It is now recognised among mathematicians and physicists that Dirac's theory of the electron, fundamental to modern physics, is based on Clifford algebra. He also anticipated Einstein's idea that space is curved. The year after his election to the Royal Society, Clifford married Lucy Lane, the journalist and novelist. During their four years of marriage they held Sunday salons which were attended by many well-known scientific, literary and artistic personalities. After William's death, Lucy became a close friend and confidante of Henry James. Her wide circle of friends included Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Leslie Stephen, Thomas Huxley, Sir Frederick Macmillan, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Monty Chisholm has researched the lives of these two influential people from archive material, biographies of those who knew them, and hitherto unpublished collections of letters. Her insight, not only into the lives of the Cliffords, but also into the period in which they lived, makes for fascinating and lively reading. The book is further enhanced by a personal reflection on William Clifford's mathematics in the Afterword by the celebrated mathematician Sir Roger Penrose O.M. Download the Contents and Introduction here (PDF, 74 KB) Download Chapter 1 - Lucy's Early Years 1846-1875 here (PDF, 83 KB) Download Chapter 2 - William's Childhood in Exeter 1845-1863 here (PDF, 132 KB)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Monty Chisholm has researched the lives of these two influential people from archive material, biographies of those who knew them, and hitherto unpublished collections of Lucy's letters. Her insight, not only into the lives of the Cliffords, but also into the period in which they lived, makes for fascinating and lively reading. The book is further enhanced by a personal reflection on William Clifford's mathematics by the celebrated mathematician Sir Roger Penrose, O.M.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Lutterworth Press (March 14, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0718830172
• ISBN-13: 978-0718830175
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,256,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring Curiosity, June 7, 2002

By 

Richard Hansen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Such Silver Currents: The story of William and Lucy Clifford, 1845-1929 (Paperback)

I immensely enjoyed reading "Such Silver Currents". It flows at just the right pace, and gathers interest, intrigue, and admiration in the reading. It inspires a curiosity about the era that made me turn frequently to a biographical dictionary for supplementary detail. The author makes her
personalities come alive; her story creates a vivid picture of the interplay of motivations of her subjects. Refreshed by reading about "behind the scenes" people instead of the "big names", I found an underlying theme of the validity of all of our lives, no matter how unknown, how forgotten in the broad sweeps of human history.