Lucasian Professor of Mathematics

(Redirected from Lucasian Professor) Mathematics professorship in the University of Cambridge, England

The Lucasian Chair of Mathematics (/luːˈkeɪziən/) is a mathematics professorship in the University of Cambridge, England; its holder is known as the Lucasian Professor. The post was founded in 1663 by Henry Lucas, who was Cambridge University's Member of Parliament in 1639–1640, and it was officially established by King Charles II on 18 January 1664. It has been called the most celebrated professorship in the world, and the most famous academic chair in the world due to the prestige of many of its holders, and the groundbreaking work done by them. It was said by The Daily Telegraph to be one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world. Since its establishment, the professorship has been held by, among others, Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage, George Stokes, Joseph Larmor, Paul Dirac, and Stephen Hawking.

History

Henry Lucas, in his will, bequeathed his library of 4,000 volumes to the university and left instructions for the purchase of land whose yielding should provide £100 a year for the founding of a professorship.

It is the third oldest chair of mathematics in Great Britain, after the Gresham Professor of Geometry at Gresham College and the Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford.

In the 1800s and following decades, the Lucasian professors "played important roles in making Britain the preeminent scientific state and in changing the university from a ‘gentleman’s club’ to a research institution."

Babbage applied for the vacancy in 1826, after Turton, but Airy was appointed. William Whewell (who considered applying, but preferred both Herschel and Babbage to himself) remarked that he would be the best professor, but that the heads of the colleges would not see that. Nonetheless, Babbage was appointed when the chair became free again two years later.

The current (19th) Lucasian Professor is Michael Cates, starting from 1 July 2015. The previous holder of the post was theoretical physicist Michael Green who was a fellow in Clare Hall. He was appointed in October 2009, succeeding Stephen Hawking, who himself retired in September 2009, in the year of his 67th birthday, as required by the university. Green holds the position of Emeritus Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.

List of Lucasian professors

#	Year of appointment	Name	Speciality	Tenure (years)
1	1663	Isaac Barrow (1630–1677)	Classics and mathematics	6
2	1669	Isaac Newton (1643–1727)	Mathematics and physics	33
3	1702	William Whiston (1667–1752)	Mathematics	9
4	1711	Nicholas Saunderson (1682–1739)	Mathematics	28
5	1739	John Colson (1680–1760)	Mathematics	21
6	1760	Edward Waring (1736–1798)	Mathematics	38
7	1798	Isaac Milner (1750–1820)	Mathematics and chemistry	22
8	1820	Robert Woodhouse (1773–1827)	Mathematics	2
9	1822	Thomas Turton (1780–1864)	Mathematics	4
10	1826	George Biddell Airy (1801–1892)	Astronomy	2
11	1828	Charles Babbage (1791–1871)	Mathematics and computing	11
12	1839	Joshua King (1798–1857)	Mathematics	10
13	1849	George Gabriel Stokes (1819–1903)	Physics and fluid mechanics	54
14	1903	Joseph Larmor (1857–1942)	Physics	29
15	1932	Paul Dirac (1902–1984)	Mathematical & Theoretical Physics	37
16	1969	James Lighthill (1924–1998)	Fluid mechanics	10
17	1979	Stephen Hawking (1942–2018)	Theoretical physics and cosmology	30
18	2009	Michael Green (born 1946)	String theory	6
19	2015	Michael Cates (born 1961)	Statistical mechanics of soft condensed matter	current

Cultural references

In the final episode of the science-fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, one of the main characters, the android Data, holds the Lucasian Chair in the late 24th century, albeit in an alternate reality.

References

Knox, Kevin C.; Noakes, Richard (2003). From Newton to Hawking: A History of Cambridge University's Lucasian Professors of Mathematics. Cambridge University Press. pp. xxi, 1. ISBN 978-0-521-66310-6.
"Michael Green to become Lucasian Professor of Mathematics". The Daily Telegraph. 21 October 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
Bruen, Robert (May 1995). "A Brief History of The Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics at Cambridge University". LucasianChair.org. Archived from the original on 23 December 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
"The Lucasian Professors at Cambridge". Nature. 130 (3273): 117–119. 1932. Bibcode:1932Natur.130..117.. doi:10.1038/130117a0. ISSN 0028-0836.
Knox, Kevin C.; Noakes, Richard (2003). From Newton to Hawking: A History of Cambridge University's Lucasian Professors of Mathematics. Cambridge University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-521-66310-6.
Isaac Todhunter (1876). William Whewell, D. D., Master of Trinity College, Cambridge: An Account of His Writings: with Selections from His Literary and Scientific Correspondence. MacMillan. pp. 71ff.
"Cambridge University Reporter No 6380". 18 March 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
"Stephen Hawking's successor as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics: Michael Green". timesonline.typepad.com. 20 October 2009. Archived from the original on 18 February 2010. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
"Hawking gives up academic title". BBC News. 30 September 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
Orrman-Rossiter, Kevin (18 June 2015). "From Newton to Hawking and beyond: a short history of the Lucasian Chair". The Conversation. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
"Michael Zaslow, First "Redshirt" on Star Trek, The Original Series, Died 11 Years Ago from ALS". The ALS Association Greater New York Chapter. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
"Video: How String Theory scaled up". phys.org. Retrieved 25 February 2016.

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