author

W. H. (William Henry) Besant

1828–1917

A gifted Victorian mathematician, he rose to the top of Cambridge’s famously demanding Mathematical Tripos and later became known for clear, influential textbooks. His name also lives on in fluid dynamics through the Besant–Rayleigh–Plesset equation.

1 Audiobook

Conic Sections: Treated Geometrically

Conic Sections: Treated Geometrically

by W. H. (William Henry) Besant

About the author

Born in Portsea, Portsmouth, on November 1, 1828, he was educated at St Paul's School and won a scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. In 1850 he became Senior Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos and also won the Smith's Prize, two of the highest academic distinctions a Cambridge mathematician could earn.

He went on to build a reputation as a mathematician and teacher, and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is remembered not only for his own mathematical work, but also for textbooks that helped generations of students tackle demanding subjects with confidence.

He died on June 2, 1917. Though less widely known today than some of his contemporaries, his work left a lasting mark, and his name is still recognized in the study of fluid motion.