Lewis Fry Richardson - Family Life and Education

Family Life and Education

Lewis Fry Richardson was the youngest of seven children born to Catherine Fry (1838–1919) and David Richardson (1835–1913). They were a prosperous Quaker family, David Richardson operating a successful tanning and leather manufacturing business.

At age 12 he was sent to a Quaker boarding school, Bootham in York, where he received an excellent education in science, which stimulated an active interest in natural history. During 1898 he went on to Durham College of Science (a college of Durham University) where he took courses in mathematical physics, chemistry, botany, and zoology. Two years later, he gained a scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, where he graduated with first-class honours in the natural sciences tripos during 1903. At age 47 he received a doctorate in mathematical psychology from the University of London.

During 1909 he married Dorothy Garnett (1885–1956), daughter of the mathematician and physicist William Garnett. They were unable to have children due to an incompatibility of blood types, but they adopted two sons and a daughter between 1920 and 1927.

Richardson's nephew Ralph Richardson, became a noted actor.

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