Profile Major Works Resources

George Howard Darwin, 1845-1912

Cambridge mathematician and astronomer, second son of famed naturalist Charles Darwin. 

Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, Darwin earned "second wrangler" in mathematics in 1868, and was promptly elected Fellow of Trinity.   Uncertain on what to do with himself, Darwin studied law for a while, and was called to the bar in 1874, but never practiced, preferring to focus on his academic pursuits, where his interests ranged widely.  

Darwin struck up a friendship with marginalist revolutionary W. Stanley Jevons.  G.H. Darwin is principally known in economics for his 1875 article in the Fortnightly Review, defending the Jevonian theory against the criticisms of latter-day Classicals, notably Cairnes.

Despite Jevons's attempts to lure him into economics, Darwin soon gravitated back to mathematics and science.  In 1883, Darwin was elected to the Plumian Chair in Astronomy and Experimental Science at the University of Cambridge.

 

  

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Major Works of G.H. Darwin

  • "On Beneficial Restrictions to Liberty of Marriage", 1873, Contemporary Review, p.412
  • "Commodities versus Labour", 1873, Contemporary Review, p.689
  • "Professor Whitney on Origin of Language", 1874, Contemporary Rev, p.894
  • "Theory of Exchange Value", 1875, Fortnightly Review, p.243
HET

 
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Resources on George Darwin

  • "My Reply to Darwin's Philosophy of Language" by M. Muller, 1875, Contemporary Rev, p.305
  • "Sir George Darwin: A biographical sketch, 1845-1912 by P. Jourdain, 1913, Open Court, p.193
  • Wiki

 

 
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