Editing Joseph Wolstenholme

{{short description|British mathematician (1829–1891)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Joseph Wolstenholme
| image             = Joseph Wolstenholme.jpg
| image_size        = 
| caption           = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1829|09|30|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Eccles, Greater Manchester]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1891|11|18|1829|09|30|df=y}}
| death_place       = 
| nationality       = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| fields            = [[Mathematics]]
| workplaces        = [[Royal Indian Engineering College]]
| alma_mater        = [[St John's College, Cambridge]]
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[Wolstenholme prime]]s<br />[[Wolstenholme's theorem]]<br />[[Wolstenholme number]]s
| awards            = 
}}
'''Joseph Wolstenholme''' (30 September 1829 – 18 November 1891) was an [[United Kingdom|English]] [[mathematician]].

Wolstenholme was born in [[Eccles, Greater Manchester|Eccles]] near [[Salford, Greater Manchester|Salford]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]], the son of a Methodist minister, Joseph Wolstenholme, and his wife, Elizabeth, ''née'' Clarke.<ref>June Barrow-Green, 'Wolstenholme, Joseph (1829–1891)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004, [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/29858]</ref> He graduated from [[St John's College, Cambridge]] as Third [[Wrangler (University of Cambridge)|Wrangler]] in 1850 and was elected a fellow of [[Christ's College, Cambridge|Christ's College]] in 1852. Collaborating with [[Percival Frost]], a ''Treatise on Solid Geometry'' was published in 1863.<ref>[[Percival Frost]] & J. Wolstenholme (1863) [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011532248 A Treatise on Solid Geometry], link from [[Hathitrust]]</ref>

Wolstenholme served as Examiner in 1854, 1856, and 1863 for [[Cambridge Mathematical Tripos]], and according to Andrew Forsyth his book ''Mathematical Problems''<ref>J. Wolstenholme (1867) [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/18644#/summary A Book of Mathematical Problems, on subjects included in the Cambridge course], London: [[Macmillan Publishers]], link from [[Biodiversity Heritage Library]]</ref> made a significant contribution to [[mathematical education]]:
:...gathered together from many examination papers to form a volume, which was considerably amplified in later editions, they [[exercise (mathematics)|exercised]] a very real influence upon successive generations of undergraduates; and "Wolstenholme's Problems" have proved a help and stimulus to many students.
In 1869 he resigned his fellowship to marry Térèse Kraus, his Swiss bride. 
He became a professor of [[mathematics]] at the [[Royal Indian Engineering College]] at Cooper's Hill, [[Egham]], [[Surrey]] from 1871 to 1889. 
In 1878 he published an expanded version of ''Mathematical Problems'', and in 1888 ''Examples for Practice in the Use of Seven-figure Logarithms''.

He was a close friend of [[Leslie Stephen]] from his undergraduate studies at [[Cambridge]]. [[Virginia Woolf]] used his personality for the character Augustus Carmichael in her novel ''[[To the Lighthouse]]''. His sister was the [[feminist]] [[Elizabeth Clarke Wolstenholme Elmy]].<ref>{{Citation |first=Elizabeth |last=Crawford |title=The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928 |location=London |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=0-415-23926-5 |page=188 }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

* Rod Gow (1995) [http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/ims/bull34/bull34_40-46.pdf Joseph Wolstenholme, Leslie Stephen, and ''To the Lighthouse''], from [[Irish Mathematical Society]] ''Bulletin'' 34.
* Stephen Leslie (1900) [https://archive.org/details/dictionarynatio13stepgoog Dictionary of National Biography, volume 62] see Joseph Wolstenholme.

==External links==
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Wolstenholme}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolstenholme, Joseph}}
[[Category:1829 births]]
[[Category:1891 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:19th-century English mathematicians]]
[[Category:British number theorists]]
[[Category:People from Eccles, Greater Manchester]]