Bartholomew Price was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
mathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and educator.
He was born at Coln St Denis,
GloucestershireGloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, in 1818. He was educated at
Pembroke College, OxfordPembroke College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located in Pembroke Square. As of 2009, Pembroke had an estimated financial endowment of £44.9 million.-History:...
, of which college (after taking a first class in mathematics in 1840 and gaining the university mathematical scholarship in 1842) he became fellow in 1844 and tutor and mathematical lecturer in 1845. He at once took a leading position in the mathematical teaching of the university, and published treatises on the
Differential calculus (in 1848) and the
Infinitesimal calculus (4 vols., 1852–1860), which for long were the recognized textbooks there. This latter work included the
differentialIn mathematics, differential calculus is a subfield of calculus concerned with the study of the rates at which quantities change. It is one of the two traditional divisions of calculus, the other being integral calculus....
and integral calculus, the
calculus of variationsCalculus of variations is a field of mathematics that deals with extremizing functionals, as opposed to ordinary calculus which deals with functions. A functional is usually a mapping from a set of functions to the real numbers. Functionals are often formed as definite integrals involving unknown...
, the theory of attractions, and
analytical mechanicsAnalytical mechanics is a term used for a refined, mathematical form of classical mechanics, constructed from the 18th century onwards as a formulation of the subject as founded by Isaac Newton. Often the term vectorial mechanics is applied to the form based on Newton's work, to contrast it with...
.
In 1853, he was appointed
Sedleian professor of natural philosophyThe Sedleian professor of natural philosophy is the name of a chair at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford.The Sedleian Chair was founded by Sir William Sedley who, by his will dated October 20, 1618, left the sum of ₤2,000 to the University of Oxford for purchase of lands for...
, resigning it in June 1898. His chief public activity at Oxford was in connection with the hebdomadal council, and with the Clarendon Press, of which he was for many years secretary. He was also a curator of the
Bodleian LibraryThe Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
, an honorary fellow of
the Queen's CollegeThe Queen's College, founded 1341, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Queen's is centrally situated on the High Street, and is renowned for its 18th-century architecture...
, a governor of
Winchester CollegeWinchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
and a visitor of Greenwich Observatory. In 1891, he was elected
MasterA Master is the title of the head of some colleges and other educational institutions. This applies especially at some colleges and institutions at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge .- See also :* Master A Master (or in female form Mistress) is the title of the head of some...
of Pembroke College, which dignity carried with it a canonry of
Gloucester CathedralGloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the river. It originated in 678 or 679 with the foundation of an abbey dedicated to Saint Peter .-Foundations:The foundations of the present...
. He also sems to have donated an interesting astronomical clock to Gloucester cathedral. He died in December 1898 and was buried in
Holywell CemeteryHolywell Cemetery is next to St Cross Church in Oxford, England. The cemetery is behind the church in St Cross Road, north of Longwall Street.-History:...
,
OxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
.
Nowadays, Professor Price is best remembered as one of the teachers of
Lewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
. There is a reference to his nickname of 'the bat' in the
Mad HatterHatta, the Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He is often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Carroll...
's song "
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat" is a poem recited by the Mad Hatter in chapter seven of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It is a parody of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"....
", a parody of "
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is a popular English nursery rhyme. The lyrics are from an early nineteenth-century English poem, "The Star" by Jane Taylor. The poem, which is in couplet form, was first published in 1806 in Rhymes for the Nursery, a collection of poems by Taylor and her sister Ann...
" in
Alice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
.
Writings