Arthur Cayley was a noted British mathematician, famed for his contribution to the founding of the British school of pure mathematics. Born in England, he spent the first eight years of his life at St. Petersburg, Russia, where his father was a commercial agent. On the family’s return to England, he was educated initially at a private school and then at King's College School and finally at Trinity College, Cambridge. Although he received a fellowship at Cambridge he initially opted out of academic life, instead becoming a noted lawyer. However, he continued his association with mathematics and at the age of forty-two returned to the University of Cambridge and devoted his life to the advancement of mathematics, writing more than one thousand original papers. Apart from solving mathematical puzzles, Cayley was also fond of reading novels and painting. He liked to water-color, which he found useful while creating mathematical diagrams. He was also fond of traveling.
