British Mathematician, Writer, and Photographer 1832–1898

Lewis Carroll is the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who was born in Darebury, England, in 1832 and died in Guildford, England, in 1898. He taught mathematics at Christ Church College of Oxford University for most of his life and wrote a number of mathematics texts. His fame, however, rests in being the author of children's stories and poems, including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1872).

Lewis Carroll produced mathematical works and logic puzzles but is better known for his tale of whimsy and satire, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Dodgson's father was an Anglican minister who had excelled in mathematics at Christ Church College. As a child, Dodgson invented games and stories to entertain his ten brothers and sisters. He attended Richmond School and Rugby School before entering Christ Church College in 1851. He did particularly well in mathematics and classics and, after graduating in 1854 with first honors in mathematics, immediately became an instructor in mathematics at Christ Church, remaining in that position until 1881.

Dodgson was the author of a number of mathematics articles and books, including Notes on the First Two Books of Euclid (1860); Euclid and His Modern Rivals (1879); A Syllabus of Plane Algebraic Geometry (1860); Curiosa Mathematica, Part I (1888) and Part II (1894); and Symbolic Logic, Part I (1896) and Part II (unpublished until 1977).

Dodgson, or Carroll, is best remembered for the children's books that resulted from his efforts to entertain the children of the Dean of Christ Church, Henry George Liddell. One of Liddell's daughters, Alice, is immortalized as the heroine of one of the most popular children's books ever to be written.

Bibliography

Narins, Brigham, ed. World of Mathematics. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001.

Internet Resources

"Charles Lutwidge Dodgson." The MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive. University of St Andrews. <http://www-history.mcs.st-andre ws.ac.uk/history/Mathematicians/Dodgson .html>.

Lewis Carroll, Logician and Mathematician. <http://www.lewiscarroll.org� 03E;.