George Ballard Mathews

He proceeded to University College, London where Olaus Henrici made him "realise that mathematics is an inductive science, not a set of rules and formulae.

His book on projective geometry (1914) is noted for its attention to foundations and its exposition of Karl von Staudt’s approach to imaginary units.

Describing his friend, Andrew Gray wrote that Mathews was "a classical scholar and deeply interested in philosophical questions of all kinds...His mind was keen and tongue sharp."

Gray also noted that Mathews was "exceedingly sensitive, and almost morbidly afraid of appearing to put himself forward in any way, so that he hardly received the recognition that was due him."

He cites author A. Voss asserting that "mathematics is pre-eminently a creation of the spirit of man; it is his least restricted field of activity, and we are under a moral obligation to cultivate it.

"[6] In 1916, in a review of Augustus De Morgan's A Budget of Paradoxes, Matthews predicts World War II and its nature: