Conway's earliest publications, dating back to 1903, were on the electromagnetic theory. He is remembered for his application of biquaternion algebra to the special theory of relativity, and in 1915 published a 43-page tract "Relativity" in Edinburgh. He published an article[4] in 1911, and in 1912 asserted priority over Ludwik Silberstein, who also applied biquaternions to relativity.[5] This claim was backed up by George Temple in his book 100 Years of Mathematics.[6] In 1947 Conway put quaternions to use with rotations in hyperbolic space.[7] The next year he published quantum mechanics applications[8] which were referred to in a PhD thesis[9] by J. Lambek in 1950.
Arthur Conway continued his scholarship in the fields of mathematics and theoretical physics, and made a special study of William Rowan Hamilton. With J. L. Synge, he edited the first volume of Hamilton's mathematical papers[11] and with A. J. McConnell he edited the second volume of Hamilton's mathematical papers.[12] Conway was also active in college life, being appointed Registrar, a position he occupied until his election as president in 1940.[13] He retired in 1947 from the presidency of UCD. In 1953, some of his writings were edited by J. McConnell for publication by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.[14]
He was an Invited Speaker of the ICM in Toronto in 1924,[15] in 1932 in Zurich, and in 1936 in Oslo. He was elected President of the Royal Irish Academy from 1937 to 1940.
In October 1975, to mark the centenary of his birth, UCD hosted the AC Conway Memorial Mathematical Symposium. Speakers included Roger Penrose, Ian Sneddon, and William B. Bonnor.
In his obituary, E.T. Whittaker referred to Conway as the "most distinguished Irish Catholic man of science of his generation."[1]: 329
^De Valera School of Mathematics and Statistics
University of St Andrews, Scotland
^Arthur W. Conway (1911) "On the application of quaternions to some recent developments in electrical theory", Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 29 A:1–9
^A.W. Conway (1912) "The quaternionic form of relativity", Philosophical Magazine (6) 24:208
^J. McConnell (1953) Selected Papers of Arthur William Conway, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
^Conway, A. W. "The mathematical works of Sir W. R. Hamilton". In: Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto, August 11–16. 1924. Vol. 2. p. 984.
