Cambridge mathematicians' responses to the first World War

Cambridge mathematicians responded to the First World War in different ways. On the one hand there were those who, for reasons of conscience,refused to take an active part in the War. While on the other, there were those who volunteered to work at establishments such as the Royal Aircraft Factory or the National Physical Laboratory, or who joined the Anti Aircraft Experimental Section of the Ministry of Munitions. In this chapter, I consider the war-time activities of both kinds of mathematicians and I discuss the effect of the War on their careers as well as on mathematics itself.