Arthur Cayley was one of the most prolific mathematicians of the 19th century. He was one of the individuals responsible for elevating English mathematics of the era to a position of visibility and authority. Although his best known for his work in algebra, Cayley was influential in generalizing geometry, particularly n-dimensional geometry and non-Euclidean geometry, in British mathematics and mathematical education.

Cayley was born on August 16, 1821, in Richmond, Surrey, England and spent his early childhood in Russia. His father, Henry Cayley, was a merchant who was based in St. Petersburg, Russia, and it has been claimed that Cayley's mother, Maria Antonia Doughty, was of Russian ancestry. On his father's side of the family, Cayley could trace his ancestry back to a Norman who had come to England with William the Conqueror in the 11th century.

Cayley's academic career was uniformly distinguished. At the age of 14 he entered King's...