Frank Morley (September 9, 1860 – October 17, 1937) was a leading mathematician, known mostly for his teaching and research in the fields of algebra and geometry. Among his mathematical accomplishments was the discovery and proof of the celebrated Morley's trisector theorem in elementary plane geometry. He led 50 Ph.D.'s to their degrees, and was said to be: :"...one of the more striking figures of the relatively small group of men who initiated that development which, within his own lifetime, brought Mathematics in America from a minor position to its present place in the sun."

Life

Morley was born in the town of

Woodbridge Woodbridge may refer to: Places Australia *Woodbridge, Western Australia formerly called ''West Midland'' *Woodbridge, Tasmania Canada *Woodbridge, Ontario England *Woodbridge, Suffolk, the location of ** Woodbridge (UK Parliament constituency ...

in Suffolk, England. His parents were Elizabeth Muskett and Joseph Roberts Morley, Quakers who ran a

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shop. After being educated at Woodbridge School, Morley went on to King's College, Cambridge (B.A., 1884). In 1887, Morley moved to Pennsylvania. He taught at

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...

until 1900, when he became chairman of the mathematics department at Johns Hopkins University. His publications include ''Elementary Treatise on the Theory of Functions'' (1893), with James Harkness; and ''Introduction to the Theory of Analytic Functions'' (1898). He was President of the American Mathematical Society from 1919 to 1920 and was the editor of the '' American Journal of Mathematics'' from 1900 to 1921. He was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1912 at Cambridge (England), in 1924 at Toronto, and in 1936 at Oslo. In 1933 he and his son Frank Vigor Morley published the "stimulating volume", ''Inversive Geometry''. The book develops complex numbers as a tool for geometry and function theory. Some non-standard terminology is used such as " base-circle" for unit circle and "

turn Turn may refer to: Arts and entertainment Dance and sports * Turn (dance and gymnastics), rotation of the body * Turn (swimming), reversing direction at the end of a pool * Turn (professional wrestling), a transition between face and heel * Turn, ...

" for a point on it. He was a strong chess player and once beat world champion Emanuel Lasker in a game of chess. He died in

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, Maryland at age 77. His three sons are novelist Christopher Morley,

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

winner Felix Morley, and Frank Vigor Morley, also a mathematician.

Works

* 1893: (with James Harkness
''A treatise on the theory of functions''
(New York: Macmillan) * 1898: (with James Harkness
''Introduction to the Theory of Analytic Functions''
(G.E.Stechert And Company) * 1919: ''On the Lüroth Quartic Curve'' * 1933: (with son Frank Vigor Morley
Inversive Geometry
Ginn & Co., now available from

HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...

References

* R.C. Archibald, ''A Semicentennial History of the American Mathematical Society (1888–1938)'', Chapter 15: The Presidents: #15 Morley 1919–20. pp. 194–201, includes bibliography of Morley's papers.

External links

* * * * Clark Kimberling
Frank Morley (1860–1937) geometer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morley, Frank 1860 births 1937 deaths 19th-century British mathematicians 19th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American mathematicians British expatriates in the United States British geometers Johns Hopkins University faculty Haverford College faculty Presidents of the American Mathematical Society Alumni of King's College, Cambridge People educated at Woodbridge School People from Woodbridge, Suffolk

Life

Works

See also

References

External links