Charles Niven


Charles Niven was a Scottish mathematician and physicist who spent most of his career at the University of Aberdeen. He published on mechanic, electricity and heat.

Life and work

Charles Niven studied mathematics at Aberdeen and was awarded a BA in 1863, and then studied at Cambridge. Charles and his older brother William D. were tutored by Edward Routh for the Mathematical Tripos. Charles became senior wrangler in 1867.
The city of Cork in South-West Region, Ireland had been the home of George Boole, and was in need of a professor of mathematics. Charles took up teaching at Queen's College Cork for a dozen years.
From 1880, Niven was professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Aberdeen, and he was responsible for establishing the Physics Department in the Marischal College when it was founded in 1906. He retired at the end of 1922.
Charles Niven was a Fellow of the Royal Society from 1880 and honorary member of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society from 1883.