Record

Authorised form of nameNiven; Sir; William Davidson (1842 - 1917); mathematician and electrical engineer
Dates1842 - 1917
NationalityBritish
Place of birthPeterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Date of birth24 March 1842
Place of deathSidcup, Kent, England
Date of death29/03/1917
Occupationmathematician and electrical engineer
Research fieldElectrical engineering
Mathematics
ActivityEducation:
Grammar School, Aberdeen; King's College, Aberdeen. MA (1861, LLD (1884). Trinity College, Cambridge. (BA 1866), MA (1869)
Career:
Fellow (1867) and Assistant Tutor, Trinity College, Cambridge; Professor of Mathematics, Royal Engineering College, Cooper's Hill (1867); Professor of Mathematics, Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; Director of Studies, Royal Naval College, Greenwich (1882-1903); literary executor and editor of collected papers of James Clerk Maxwell (FRS 1861); retired to Sidcup, Kent.
Honours:
CB 1897; KCB 1903
Memberships:
LMS (President 1908-1909)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election08/06/1882
Age at election40
ProposerStephen Parkinson; John Couch Adams; [John William Strutt] Rayleigh; Arthur Cayley; Henry John Stephen Smith; Isaac Todhunter; Norman Macleod Ferrers; Edward John Routh; William Henry Besant; James Whitbread Lee Glaisher; James Hopkinson; Edwin Dunkin
Royal Society activityRoyal Society roles:
VP 1904-1906
RelationshipsParents: Charles Niven, shopkeeper.
Siblings: Charles Niven (FRS 1880)
Published worksRCN 54935
General contextRemembered for editing the scientific papers of his colleague James Clerk Maxwell FRS (1831–1879).
Image

Niven W D, IM003326.jpg

SourcesSources:
Bulloch's Roll; Venn
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/37159915
Royal Society codeNA6649
Archives associated with this Fellow
Reference numberTitleDate
IM/003327Niven, Sir William Davidsonnd
MM/16/56Letter from James Clerk Maxwell, Ardhallow, Dunoon, to WD Nivenc.1874-1875
NLB/5/193Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to William Davidson Niven, Fellow of the Royal Society11 April 1891
NLB/7/634Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to William Davidson Niven, Fellow of the Royal Society27 March 1893
NLB/14/143Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Thomas Lauder Brunton; William Davidson Niven; Professor M Ward; Admiral William James Wharton, Fellows of the Royal Society12 January 1897
RR/16/335Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'An account of the pendulum observations made at Kew & Greenwich Observatories in 1903' by Gerald Ponsonby Lenox-ConynghamJuly 1905
RR/16/414Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on an unnamed paper by George Udny YuleJanuary 1906
RR/16/417Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on two papers 'On a property which holds good for all groupings of a normal distribution of frequency for two variables, with applications to the study of contingency-tables for the inheritance of unmeasured qualities' and 'On the influence of bias and of personal equation in statistics of ill-defined qualities: An experimental study' by George Udney Yule18 December 1905
RR/16/411Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'A property which holds good for all groupings of a normal distribution and frequency for two variables, with applications to the study of contingency-tables for the inheritance of unmeasured quantities' by George Udny YuleJanuary 1906
NLB/17/749Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Herbert Rix15 December 1898
RR/19/27Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'Some phenomena of sunspots and of terrestrial magnetism at Kew Observatory' by Charles Chree[May 1912]
NLB/30/29Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir William Davidson Niven, Fellow of the Royal Society[17] January 1905
NLB/30/442Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir William Davidson Niven, Fellow of the Royal Society24 March 1905
NLB/30/560Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir William Davidson Niven, Fellow of the Royal Society12 April 1905
NLB/32/27Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Sir William Niven, [Fellow of the Royal Society]14 December 1905
NLB/32/51Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Sir William Niven, [Fellow of the Royal Society]17 December 1905
NLB/32/36Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir William Niven, Fellow of the Royal Society14 December 1905
NLB/31/548Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir William Davidson Niven, Fellow of the Royal Society, Chairman of the Mathematics Committee9 October 1905
NLB/32/504Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor William Burnside, Fellow of the Royal Society, Chairman of the Mathematics Sectional Committee21 March 1906
NLB/35/699Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Sir William Davidson Niven, Fellow of the Royal Society5 July 1907
NLB/36/829Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Sir William Niven, [Fellow of the Royal Society]24 December 1907
RR/20/86Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On the self-inductance of circular coils of rectangular section' by Thomas Ranken LyleMay 1913
NLB/54/578Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Joseph John Thomson, President of the Royal Society25 June 1917
RR/8/174Referee's report by Isaac Todhunter, on a paper 'On the conduction of heat in ellipsoids of revolution' by William Davidson Niven11 July 1879
RR/9/220Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On the motion of fluid, part of which is moving rotationally and part irrotationally' by Micaiah John Muller Hill28 May 1884
RR/8/175Referee's report by Norman Macleod Ferrers, on a paper 'On the conduction of heat in ellipsoids of revolution' by William Davidson Niven23 July 1879
RR/11/143Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'The potential of an anchor ring' by Frank Watson Dyson8 June 1892
RR/11/141Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'The potential of an anchor ring' by Frank Watson Dyson25 May 1892
RR/11/142Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'The potential of an anchor ring' by Frank Watson Dyson8 June 1892
RR/11/235Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On the three-bar motion of watt' by William Brennand1893
RR/11/250Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'The potential of an anchor ring' by Frank Watson Dyson1893
RR/12/169Detailed referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On certain functions connected with tesseral harmonics, with applications' by A H Leahy[1894]
RR/11/249Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'The potential of an anchor ring' by Frank Watson Dyson12 June 1893
RR/16/333Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'Effects of temperature and pressure on the thermal conductivities of solids. Part I. The effect of temperature on the thermal conductivities of some electrical insulations' by Charles Herbert LeesJanuary 1905
RR/8/173Referee's report by Isaac Todhunter, on a paper 'On certain definite integrals occurring in spherical harmonic analysis and on the expansion, in series, of the potentials of the ellipsoid and the ellipse' by William Davidson Niven14 May 1879
RR/9/191Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On the determination of the number of electrostatic units in the electromagnetic unit of electricity' by Joseph John Thomson2 October 1882
RR/12/170Referee's report by Ernest William Hobson and William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On certain functions connected with tesseral harmonics, with applications' by A H Leahy8 November 1894
EC/1882/17Niven, Sir William Davidson: certificate of election to the Royal Society
IM/003326Niven, Sir William Davidsonnd
NLB/6/372Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor William Davidson Niven, Fellow of the Royal Society26 April 1892
RR/16/334Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On pendulum observations at Kew & Greenwich' by Gerald Ponsonby Lenox-Conyngham4 July 1905
RR/17/25Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'Roche's Ellipsoids and on allied problems relating to satellites' ['On the figure and stability of a liquid satellite'] by George Howard Darwin21 February 1906
NLB/30/497Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Sir William Davidson Niven, Fellow of the Royal Society, Chairman of the Mathematics Sectional Committee3 April 1905
RR/17/177Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'The dispersion of double refraction in relation to crystal structure' by Thomas Henry Havelock22 July 1907
RR/9/155Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On electrical motions in a spherical conductor' by Horace Lamb23 May 1883
RR/11/213Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'Repulsion and rotation produced alternating electric currents' by Gilbert Thomas Walker27 January 1892
RR/9/190Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On the determination of the number of electrostatic units in the electromagnetic unit of electricity' by Joseph John Thomson18 September 1883
RR/10/365Referee's report by Norman Macleod Ferrers, on a paper 'On ellipsoidal harmonics' by William Davidson Niven2 December 1890
RR/8/52Referee's report by Morgan William Crofton, on a paper 'On the calculation of the trajectories of shot' by William Davidson Niven12 January 1877
RR/16/402Memoranda from Robert William Frederick Harrison, and reply from Wiliam Davidson Niven, on a paper 'Mathematical concepts of the material world' by Alfred North Whitehead14 December 1905
RR/16/418Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a memoir 'On a property which holds good for all groupings of a normal distribution of frequency for two variables, with applications to the study of contingency-tables for the inheritance of unmeasured qualities' by Reverend E W Barnes and on papers 'On the influence of bias and of personal equation in statistics of ill-defined qualities: An experimental study' by George Udny Yule19 December 1905
AP/58/12Unpublished paper, 'On the calculation of the trajectories of shot' by W D [William Davidson] Niven1876
RR/8/53Referee's report by John Couch Adams, on a paper 'On the calculation of the trajectories of shot' by William Davidson Nivennd [1877]
RR/12/348Second referee's report by Ernest William Hobson and William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On certain functions connected with tesseral harmonics, with applications' by A H Leahy[1895]
RR/11/214Letter from William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'Repulsion and rotation produced alternating electric currents' by Gilbert Thomas Walker to the Secretary of the Royal Society8 February 1892
RR/12/168Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On certain functions connected with tesseral harmonics, with applications' by A H Leahy24 October 1894
RR/12/331Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On a type of spherical harmonics of unrestricted degree, order, and argument' by Ernest William Hobson28 February 1896
RR/16/277Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'On the intensity and direction of the force of gravity in India' by Lieutenant Colonel Sidney Gerald BurrardMay 1905
RR/16/401Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'Mathematical concepts of the material world' by Alfred North Whitehead27 November 1905
RR/17/229Referee's report by William Davidson Niven, on a paper 'Alternate current measurement' by W E Sumpner[January 1908]
MC/20/242Letter from [William Davidson] Niven, Rosedale, St John's Road, Sidcup, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison21 May 1905
MC/20Volume 20 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1905
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