Letters between D’Arcy W. Thompson and Vito Volterra

Abstract

D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson was born in Edinburgh (Scotland) on 2 May 1860. His father (who had the same name) was professor of classical literature and greek at Queen’s College, Galway and, from 1870 on, classical master at the Edinburgh Academy. It is a fact that his father had a strong influence on the young D’Arcy, as, in his final year, the latter won the prizes for Classics, Greek Testament, Modern Languages, as well as for Mathematics. He enrolled in medicine at Edinburgh University (from 1877 to 1880), and then continued his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge (from 1880 to 1883). He graduated in zoology in 1883 but obtained his Ph.D. only 29 years later, in 1923.