Frank Morley (September 9, 1860 – October 17, 1937) was a leading mathematician, known mostly for his teaching and research in the fields of

algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary ...

and

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ...

. Among his mathematical accomplishments was the discovery and proof of the celebrated

Morley's trisector theorem In plane geometry, Morley's trisector theorem states that in any triangle, the three points of intersection of the adjacent angle trisectors form an equilateral triangle, called the first Morley triangle or simply the Morley triangle. The theorem ...

in elementary

plane geometry Euclidean geometry is a mathematical system attributed to ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, which he described in his textbook on geometry: the '' Elements''. Euclid's approach consists in assuming a small set of intuitively appealing axioms ...

. 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 in Suffolk, England. His parents were Elizabeth Muskett and Joseph Roberts Morley,

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

who ran a china shop. After being educated at

Woodbridge School Woodbridge School is an independent school in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, founded in 1577, for the poor of Woodbridge. It was later supported by the Seckford Foundation. Woodbridge School has been co-educational since September 1974. Histor ...

, Morley went on to

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

(B.A., 1884). In 1887, Morley moved to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He taught at Haverford College until 1900, when he became chairman of the mathematics department at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

. 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 The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

from 1919 to 1920 and was the editor of the ''

American Journal of Mathematics The ''American Journal of Mathematics'' is a bimonthly mathematics journal published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. History The ''American Journal of Mathematics'' is the oldest continuously published mathematical journal in the United S ...

'' from 1900 to 1921. He was an

invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians This is a list of International Congresses of Mathematicians Plenary and Invited Speakers. Being invited to talk at an International Congress of Mathematicians has been called "the equivalent, in this community, of an induction to a hall of fame." ...

in 1912 at Cambridge (England), in 1924 at Toronto, and in 1936 at Oslo. In 1933 he and his son

Frank Vigor Morley Frank Vigor Morley (4 January 1899 – 8 October 1980) was an American mathematician, author, editor and publishing executive. As had his two older brothers, Christopher and Felix, Morley attended Haverford College and then studied at the Universi ...

published the "stimulating volume", ''Inversive Geometry''. The book develops

complex number In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the fo ...

s as a tool for geometry and function theory. Some non-standard terminology is used such as " base-circle" for

unit circle In mathematics, a unit circle is a circle of unit radius—that is, a radius of 1. Frequently, especially in trigonometry, the unit circle is the circle of radius 1 centered at the origin (0, 0) in the Cartesian coordinate system in the Eucli ...

and " turn" for a point on it. He was a strong

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

player and once beat world champion

Emanuel Lasker Emanuel Lasker (; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Cham ...

in a game of chess. He died in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Maryland at age 77. His three sons are novelist

Christopher Morley Christopher Darlington Morley (May 5, 1890 – March 28, 1957) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He also produced stage productions for a few years and gave college lectures.''Online Literature'' Biography Morley was bo ...

, Pulitzer Prize winner

Felix Morley Felix Muskett Morley (January 6, 1894 – March 13, 1982) was a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and college administrator from the United States. Biography Morley was born in Haverford, Pennsylvania, his f ...

, and

, 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

Inversive Geometry
Ginn & Co., now available from HathiTrust

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