Duncan Sommerville
Duncan M. Y. Sommerville | |
|---|---|
Duncan Sommerville | |
| Born | 24 November 1879 |
| Died | 31 January 1934 Wellington, New Zealand |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | St Andrews University |
| Known for | Textbooks on geometry Dehn-Sommerville relations |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | St Andrews University (1904–13) Wellington University (1913–34) |
Duncan MacLaren Young Sommerville FRSE FRAS (1879–1934) was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer. He compiled a bibliography on non-Euclidean geometry and also wrote a leading textbook in that field. He also wrote Introduction to the Geometry of N Dimensions, advancing the study of polytopes. He was a co-founder and the first secretary of the New Zealand Astronomical Society.
Sommerville was also an accomplished watercolourist, producing a series New Zealand landscapes.
The middle name 'MacLaren' is spelt using the old orthography M'Laren in some sources, for example the records of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.