Smith, HENRY JOHN STEPHEN

Smith, HENRY JOHN STEPHEN, mathematician, was born in Dublin, November 2, 1826, and was educated at Rugby and Balliol College, Oxford, taking a double-first in 1849. In 1861 he became Savilian professor of Geometry. He died February 3, 1883. He was the greatest authority of his day on the theory of numbers (see his British Association Reports from 1859 to 1865), and also wrote on elliptic functions and modern geometry. In 1881 the French Academy offered their 'Grand Prix' for a demonstration of certain theorems, ignorant of the fact that they had already been demonstrated fourteen years before by Smith, to whom accordingly the prize of 3000 francs was awarded, but not till a month after his death. He was a man of great versatility, geniality, soundness of judgment, and delicacy of humour.