Arthur Cayley (1821 1895) was a key figure in the creation of modern algebra. He studied mathematics at Cambridge and published three papers while still an undergraduate. He then qualified as a lawyer and published about 250 mathematical papers during his fourteen years at the Bar. In 1863 he took a significant salary cut to become the first Sadleirian Professor of Pure Mathematics at Cambridge, where he continued to publish at a phenomenal rate on nearly every aspect of the subject, his most important work being in matrices, geometry and abstract groups. In 1883 he became president of the...