John Charles Fields, 1863 - 1932

John Charles Fields was born in Hamilton, Ontario, on May 14, 1863, and died in Toronto on August 9, 1932. He was elected Fellow in 1913. His father (John Charles Fields) and his mother (Harriet Bowes) were both Canadians. The former was a merchant of Hamilton, and in the course of his business travelled extensively in the British Isles and Continental Europe. The father died when Fields was eleven years old and his mother when he was eighteen. He attended Hamilton Collegiate Institute, where he showed marked ability, taking a number of scholarships. He matriculated at the University of Toronto in 1880 and took his B.A. degree in 1884, with the gold medal in mathematics, after a distinguished undergraduate career. He then went to Johns Hopkins University to pursue graduate studies, and remained there until 1889, taking his Ph.D. degree in 1887, the subject of his dissertation being that of No. 7 in the list of publications given below. In 1889 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at Allegheny College; he resigned this position in 1892 in order to pursue further studies.