Inventions[edit]
To promote letter writing, Dodgson invented "The Wonderland Postage-Stamp Case" in 1889. This was a cloth-backed folder with twelve slots, two marked for inserting the most commonly used penny stamp, and one each for the other current denominations up to one shilling. The folder was then put into a slip case decorated with a picture of Alice on the front and theCheshire Cat on the back. All could be conveniently carried in a pocket or purse. The pack also included a copy of Carroll's pamphletted lecture Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter-Writing.[59][60]
Another invention was a writing tablet called the nyctograph that allowed note-taking in the dark, thus eliminating the need to get out of bed and strike a light when one woke with an idea. The device consisted of a gridded card with sixteen squares and system of symbols representing an alphabet of Dodgson's design, using letter shapes similar to the Graffiti writing system on a Palm device.[61]
He also devised a number of games, including an early version of what today is known as Scrabble. He appears to have invented — or at least certainly popularized — the "doublet" (see word ladder), a form of brain-teaser that is still popular today, changing one word into another by altering one letter at a time, each successive change always resulting in a genuine word. For instance, CAT is transformed into DOG by the following steps: CAT, COT, DOT, DOG.[27]
Other items include a rule for finding the day of the week for any date; a means for justifying right margins on a typewriter; a steering device for a velociam (a type of tricycle); new systems of parliamentary representation;[62] more fair elimination rules for tennis tournaments; a new sort of postal money order; rules for reckoning postage; rules for a win in betting; rules for dividing a number by various divisors; a cardboard scale for the Senior Common Room at Christ Church which, held next to a glass, ensured the right amount of liqueur for the price paid; a double-sided adhesive strip to fasten envelopes or mount things in books; a device for helping a bedridden invalid to read from a book placed sideways; and at least two ciphers for cryptography.[27]
Mathematical work[edit]
Within the academic discipline of mathematics, Dodgson worked primarily in the fields of geometry, linear and matrix algebra, mathematical logic, andrecreational mathematics, producing nearly a dozen books under his real name. Dodgson also developed new ideas in linear algebra (e.g., the first printed proof of the Kronecker-Capelli theorem),[63][64] probability, and the study of elections (e.g., Dodgson's method) and committees; some of this work was not published until well after his death. His occupation as Mathematical Lecturer at Christ Church gave him some financial security.[65]
His mathematical work attracted renewed interest in the late 20th century. Martin Gardner's book on logic machines and diagrams, and William Warren Bartley's posthumous publication of the second part of Carroll's symbolic logic book have sparked a reevaluation of Carroll's contributions to symbolic logic.[66][67][68] Robbins' and Rumsey's investigation[69] of Dodgson condensation, a method of evaluating determinants, led them to the Alternating Sign Matrix conjecture, now a theorem. The discovery in the 1990s of additional ciphers that Carroll had constructed, in addition to his "Memoria Technica", showed that he had employed sophisticated mathematical ideas to their creation.[70]
Correspondence[edit]
Dodgson wrote and received as many as 98,721 letters, according to a special letter register which he devised. He documented his advice about how to write more satisfying letters in a missive entitled "Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter-Writing".[71]
Later years[edit]
Dodson's existence remained little changed over the remaining twenty years of his life, throughout his growing wealth and fame. He continued to teach at Christ Church until 1881, and remained in residence there until his death. The two volumes of his last novel Sylvie and Bruno were published in 1889 and 1893, but the intricacy of this work was apparently not appreciated by contemporary readers; it achieved nothing like the success of theAlice books, with disappointing reviews and sales of only 13,000 copies.[72][73]
The only known occasion on which he travelled abroad was a trip to Russia in 1867 as an ecclesiastical, together with the Reverend Henry Liddon. He recounts the travel in his "Russian Journal", which was first commercially published in 1935.[74] On his way to Russia and back, he also saw different cities in Belgium, Germany, the partitioned Poland, and France.
He died of pneumonia following influenza on 14 January 1898 at his sisters' home, "The Chestnuts" in Guildford. He was two weeks away from turning 66 years old. He is buried in Guildford at the Mount Cemetery.[27]
No comments:
Post a Comment