Sir William Davidson Niven KCB FRS mathematician and electrical engineer .
After an early teaching career at Cambridge , Niven was Director of Studies at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich , for thirty years.
Life
Royal Naval College, Greenwich Niven was born at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire , one of five notable mathematician brothers: Charles and James the best known. He graduated first from the University of Aberdeen ,[ 1] Trinity College, Cambridge , where he was a Wrangler and was elected a Fellow of his college.
In 1882 Niven became Director of Studies at the Royal Naval College , Greenwich , succeeding Thomas Archer Hirst .[ 2] Companion of the Order of the Bath (Civil division) in Queen Victoria 's Diamond Jubilee Honours of 1897. He retired in 1903, when he was knighted by being appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath .[ 2]
Niven was a colleague of James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), whose scientific papers he edited after his death. Among Niven's students was Alfred North Whitehead , to whom he taught mathematics, by instructing him in the physics of Maxwell.[ 3]
In retirement Niven lived at Eastburn, Sidcup , Kent ,[ 2] [ 1]
Major publications
Niven edited works by J. C. Maxwell:
Notes
^ a b Ronny Desmet, Michel Weber, Whitehead. The Algebra of Metaphysics (2010), p. 116
^ a b c 'NIVEN, Sir William Davidson', in Who Was Who 1916–1928 ISBN 0-7136-3143-0 )
^ Frank Northen Magill, Alison Aves (1999) Dictionary of World Biography , p. 3,965
International National Academics People Other
