Sir Alfred Bray Kempe FRS (6 July 1849 – 21 April 1922) was a

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

best known for his work on linkages and the

four colour theorem In mathematics, the four color theorem, or the four color map theorem, states that no more than four colors are required to color the regions of any map so that no two adjacent regions have the same color. ''Adjacent'' means that two regions shar ...

Biography

Kempe was the son of the Rector of

St James's Church, Piccadilly St James's Church, Piccadilly, also known as St James's Church, Westminster, and St James-in-the-Fields, is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, England. The church was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren. The churc ...

, the Rev. John Edward Kempe. Among his brothers were Sir John Arrow Kempe and

Harry Robert Kempe Harry Robert Kempe (1852-1935) was an English electrical engineer, author and editor. Life Kempe was born at Kensington, London, on 1 March 1852, the youngest son of the Rev. John Edward Kempe, later rector of St James's Church, Piccadilly, and ...

. He was educated at

St Paul's School, London St Paul's School is a Selective school, selective Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent day school (with limited boarding school, boarding) for boys aged 13–18, founded in 1509 by John Colet and located on a 43-acre site by Rive ...

and then studied at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, where

Arthur Cayley Arthur Cayley (; 16 August 1821 – 26 January 1895) was a British mathematician who worked mostly on algebra. He helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics, and was a professor at Trinity College, Cambridge for 35 years. He ...

was one of his teachers. He graduated BA (22nd wrangler) in 1872. Despite his interest in mathematics he became a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

, specialising in the

ecclesiastical law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

. He was knighted in 1913, the same year he became the

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

for the

Diocese of London The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England. It lies directly north of the Thames, covering and all or part of 17 London boroughs. This corresponds almost exactly to the historic county of ...

. He was also Chancellor of the dioceses of Newcastle, Southwell, St Albans, Peterborough, Chichester, and Chelmsford. He received the honorary degree DCL from the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

and he was elected a

Bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher c ...

of the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1909. In 1876 he published his article ''On a General Method of describing Plane Curves of the nth degree by Linkwork,'' which presented a procedure for constructing a linkage that traces an arbitrary algebraic

plane curve In mathematics, a plane curve is a curve in a plane that may be a Euclidean plane, an affine plane or a projective plane. The most frequently studied cases are smooth plane curves (including piecewise smooth plane curves), and algebraic plane c ...

. This was a remarkable generalization of his work on the design of linkages to trace straight lines. This direct connection between linkages and

algebraic curve In mathematics, an affine algebraic plane curve is the zero set of a polynomial in two variables. A projective algebraic plane curve is the zero set in a projective plane of a homogeneous polynomial in three variables. An affine algebraic plane cu ...

s is now called

Kempe's universality theorem In algebraic geometry, Kempe's universality theorem states that any bounded subset of an algebraic curve may be traced out by the motion of one of the joints in a suitably chosen linkage. It is named for British mathematician Alfred B. Kempe, w ...

. While Kempe's proposed

proof Proof most often refers to: * Proof (truth), argument or sufficient evidence for the truth of a proposition * Alcohol proof, a measure of an alcoholic drink's strength Proof may also refer to: Mathematics and formal logic * Formal proof, a co ...

was flawed, the first complete proof was provided in 2002, based on his ideas. Quadruplanar_invesor_of_Sylvester_and_Kempe_Alternate

In 1877 Kempe discovered a new

straight line linkage A straight-line mechanism is a Mechanism (engineering), mechanism that converts any type of rotary or angular motion to perfect or near-perfect straight-line motion, or ''vice versa''. Straight-line motion is linear motion of definite length ...

called the

Quadruplanar inversor The Quadruplanar inversor of Sylvester and Kempe is a generalization of Hart's inversor. Like Hart's inversor, is a mechanism that provides a perfect straight line motion without sliding guides. The mechanism was described in 1875 by James Josep ...

or ''Sylvester–Kempe Inversor'' and published his influential lectures on the subject. In 1879 Kempe wrote his famous "proof" of the

, shown incorrect by

Percy Heawood Percy John Heawood (8 September 1861 – 24 January 1955) was a British mathematician, who concentrated on graph colouring. Life He was the son of the Rev. John Richard Heawood of Newport, Shropshire, and his wife Emily Heath, daughter of the ...

in 1890. Much later, his work led to fundamental concepts such as the

Kempe chain In mathematics, a Kempe chain is a device used mainly in the study of the four colour theorem. Intuitively, it is a connected chain of vertices on a graph with alternating colours. History Kempe chains were first used by Alfred Kempe in his atte ...

and unavoidable sets. Kempe (1886) revealed a rather marked philosophical bent, and much influenced

Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American scientist, mathematician, logician, and philosopher who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". According to philosopher Paul Weiss (philosopher), Paul ...

. Kempe also discovered what are now called

multiset In mathematics, a multiset (or bag, or mset) is a modification of the concept of a set that, unlike a set, allows for multiple instances for each of its elements. The number of instances given for each element is called the ''multiplicity'' of ...

s, although this fact was not noted until long after his death.

Ivor Grattan-Guinness Ivor Owen Grattan-Guinness (23 June 1941 – 12 December 2014) was a historian of mathematics and logic. Life Grattan-Guinness was born in Bakewell, England; his father was a mathematics teacher and educational administrator. He gained his ...

(2000) ''The Search for Mathematical Roots 1870–1940''. Princeton Univ. Press Kempe was elected a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1881. He was Treasurer and vice-president of the Royal Society 1899–1919. He was a president of the

London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's Learned society, learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh ...

from 1892 to 1894. He was also a

mountain climber Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...

, mostly in Switzerland. His first wife was Mary, daughter of

Sir William Bowman, 1st Baronet Sir William Bowman, 1st Baronet (20 July 1816 – 29 March 1892) was an English surgeon, histologist and anatomist. He is best known for his research using microscopes to study various human organs, though during his lifetime he pursued a succe ...

; she died in 1893. He then married, in 1897, Ida, daughter of Judge Meadows White, QC. He had two sons and one daughter.

References

External links

* * *From the Cornell University archives: A. B. Kempe (1877
How to draw a straight line; a lecture on linkages
, London: Macmillan and Co. *Found at Project Gutenberg: A. B. Kempe (1877
How to draw a straight line; a lecture on linkages, London: Macmillan and Co.
*Examples of Kempe's Universality Theorem
Mechanical computation and algebraic curvesAutomatic generation of Kempe Linkages for Algebraic Curves.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kempe, Alfred Bray 19th-century English mathematicians 20th-century English mathematicians 1849 births 1922 deaths Graph theorists Fellows of the Royal Society Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English mountain climbers