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Robert J. T. Bell

Scottish mathematician and academic (1876–1963)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ7345985 ↗
Source-derived summary

Robert J. T. Bell RSE FRSE (15 January 1876 – 8 September 1963) was a Scottish mathematician. He held the positions of Professor of Pure and Applied Mathematics and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science, at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Early life and career

Robert John Tainsh Bell was born to the Rev. George Bell and Margaret Walker Scott in Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland, on 15 January 1876. The family moving to Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Bell was educated at Hamilton Academy from which he matriculated at the University of Glasgow, having won a high placement in the university’s Open Bursary Competition. Bell graduated in 1898 as M.A. (with First Class Honours) in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy.

Appointed a William Ewing Fellow, Bell continued at the university as a tutorial assistant and in 1901 was promoted to junior assistant.

In 1902 he married Agnes Thomson.

Later career

In 1911 Bell was appointed Lecturer in Mathematics and awarded a D.Sc. by the university for his treatise on the geometry of three dimensions, published in book form in 1910 as An Elementary Treatise on Co-ordinate Geometry of Three Dimensions.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Robert J. T. Bell” as scottish mathematician and academic (1876–1963). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Robert, Bell and Scottish.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1876, 1963, 1898, 1901—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1876-01-15. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Robert, Bell and Scottish providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Robert J. T. Bell”, the useful work is to connect “scottish mathematician and academic (1876–1963)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7345985. VIAF identifies the subject as 194190822. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1876, 1963, 1898 and 1901.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Robert J. T. Bell”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Robert J. T. Bell primary sources, Robert J. T. Bell archive and Robert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Robert J. T. Bell” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.