Rev. Henry William Watson (25 February 1827 – 11 January 1903) was a noted mathematician and author of a number of mathematics books.

Watson was educated at King's College London, winning the first mathematical scholarship which had been set up there, then in 1846 he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, again with a scholarship. He graduated in 1850 as Second Wrangler and Smith's prizeman.

Watson was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1881 and given an honorary D.Sc. by Cambridge in 1883. He was nominated by the Senate of Cambridge University to represent it as a governor on the King Edward's Foundation in Birmingham. He was bailiff of King Edward's School for three years.

He was responsible, together with Francis Galton for the Galton–Watson process.

Books by H. W. Watson

• The mathematical theory of electricity and magnetism (Volume 1: electrostatics) (Clarendon, Oxford, 1885–1889)
• The mathematical theory of electricity and magnetism (Volume 2: magnetism & electrodynamics) (Clarendon, Oxford, 1885–1889)
• A treatise on the application of generalised coordinates to the kinetics of a material system (Clarendon, Oxford, 1879)
• A treatise on the kinetic theory of gases (Clarendon, Oxford, 1893)

External links

ht:Henry William Watson