1 86 SIR GEORGE DARWIN 



for his noble character was respected and 

 beloved by all his colleagues in the Inter- 

 national Geodetic Association. 



Sir Joseph Larmor writes* : 



Sir George Darwin's last public appearance 

 was as president of the fifth International 

 Congress of Mathematicians, which met at 

 Cambridge on August 22-28, 191 2. The time 

 for England to receive the congress having 

 obviously arrived, a movement was initiated 

 at Cambridge, with the concurrence of Oxford 

 mathematicians, to send an invitation to the 

 fourth congress held at Rome in 1908. The 

 proposal was cordially accepted, and Sir George 

 Darwin, as doyen of the mathematical school 

 at Cambridge, became chairman of the organis- 

 ing committee, and was subsequently elected 

 by the congress to be their president. Though 

 obviously unwell during part of the meeting, 

 he managed to discharge the delicate duties 

 of the chair with conspicuous success, and 

 guided with great verve the deliberations of 

 the final assembly of what turned out to be a 

 most successful meeting of that important 

 body. 



Personal Characteristics. 



His daughter, Madame Raverat, writes : 



I think most people might not realise that 

 the sense of adventure and romance was the 

 most important thing in my father's life, except 

 his love of work. He thought about all life 

 romantically, and his own hfe in particular ; 



* Nature, December 12, 191 2. 



