Mathematician:Alfred Bray Kempe

Mathematician

English mathematician best known for his work on linkages and the Four Color Theorem.

Trained as a barrister, and was also an accomplished pianist.

Nationality

English

History

• Born: 6 July 1849 in Kensington, London, England
• Died: 21 April 1922 in London, England

Theorems and Definitions

• Kempe's Universality Theorem for Linkages
• Kempe Chain

Publications

• 1877: How to Draw a Straight Line
• 1886: A memoir on the theory of mathematical form (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Vol. 177: pp. 1 – 70)

Critical View

Mistress of humble tones and haughty,

Kempe calls me his piano-forte;

He plays me when a problem fails,

And rises lighter from the scales.

-- One of his students

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Alfred Bray Kempe": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive