George Johnston Allman (28 September 1824 – 9 May 1904) was an Irish

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

, classical scholar, and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

of ancient

Greek mathematics Greek mathematics refers to mathematics texts and ideas stemming from the Archaic through the Hellenistic and Roman periods, mostly extant from the 7th century BC to the 4th century AD, around the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean. Greek mathem ...

. His fame rests mainly upon his authorship of ''Greek

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 c ...

from

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...

Euclid Euclid (; grc-gre, Wikt:Εὐκλείδης, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the ''Euclid's Elements, Elements'' trea ...

'', first published in Dublin in 1889, and republished several times subsequently.

Life

He was born in Dublin the son of William Allman MD, also a botanist. He held the position of Professor of Mathematics at

Queen's University of Ireland The Queen's University of Ireland was established formally by Royal Charter on 3 September 1850, as the degree-awarding university of the ''Queen's Colleges'' of Belfast, Cork, and Galway that were established in 1845 "to afford a university e ...

for forty years, from 1853 until reaching retirement age in 1893. He died at Finglass, Dublin on 9 May, 1904. He had married in 1853 Louisa, the daughter of John Smith Taylor of Dublin.

Recognition

He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in June, 1884. His candidacy citation read: "Member of the Senate of the Queen's University of Ireland, – Appointed by Charter one of the original Senators of the Royal University of Ireland – Member of Standing Committee of the said University. Author of the following papers, amongst others: "Method of deriving the Polar Equations of Dynamics & Hydrodynamics from direct physical considerations" – ''Dublin University Phil Transactions'' 1848. "On certain Curves traced on the Surface of an Ellipsoid", ''Camb & Dub Math Journal''. 1848. "On the Attraction of Ellipsoids, with a new demonstration of Clairaut's Theorem, being an account of the late Prof MacCullagh's lectures", ''Trans RI Academy'' 1855. "On some properties of Paraboloids". ''Quarterly Journal Maths'' 1874. "Greek Geometry from Thales to Euclid, Part 1" ''Hermathena'' 1877. Do "Part 2" ''Hermathena'', 1881"

References

External links

* * ;About George Johnston Allman * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allman, George Johnston 1824 births 1904 deaths 19th-century British mathematicians British classical scholars Historians of mathematics Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Fellows of the Royal Society