George Salmon
FBA FRS FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
(25 September 1819 – 22 January 1904) was a distinguished and influential Irish
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 ...
and
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
theologian
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
. After working in
algebraic geometry
Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics, classically studying zeros of multivariate polynomials. Modern algebraic geometry is based on the use of abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, for solving geometrical ...
for two decades, Salmon devoted the last forty years of his life to theology. His entire career was spent at
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
.
Personal life
Salmon was born in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, to Michael Salmon and Helen Weekes (the daughter of the Reverend Edward Weekes), but he spent his boyhood in
Cork City
Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city' ...
, where his father Michael was a linen merchant. He attended
Hamblin and Porter's School there before starting at
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
in 1833.
In 1837 he won a scholarship and graduated from Trinity in 1839 with
first-class honours
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...
in mathematics. In 1841 at the age of 21, he attained a paid fellowship and teaching position in mathematics at Trinity. In 1845 he was additionally appointed to a position in theology at the university, after having been ordained a deacon in 1844 and a priest in the
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...
in 1845.
He remained at Trinity for the rest of his career.
He died at the
Provost's House on 22 January 1904 and was buried in
Mount Jerome cemetery
Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest.
Mount or Mounts may also refer to:
Places
* Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England
* Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...
, Dublin. An avid reader throughout his life, his obituary refers to him as "specially devoted to the novels of Jane Austen."
Family
In 1844 he married Frances Anne Salvador, daughter of Rev J L Salvador of Staunton-upon-Wye in Herefordshire, with whom he had six children, of which only two survived him.
Mathematics
In the late 1840s and the 1850s Salmon was in regular and frequent communication with
Arthur Cayley
Arthur Cayley (; 16 August 1821 – 26 January 1895) was a prolific United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British mathematician who worked mostly on algebra. He helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics.
As a child, C ...
and
J. J. Sylvester
James Joseph Sylvester (3 September 1814 – 15 March 1897) was an English mathematician. He made fundamental contributions to matrix theory, invariant theory, number theory, partition theory, and combinatorics. He played a leadership ...
. The three of them, together with a small number of other mathematicians (including
Charles Hermite
Charles Hermite () FRS FRSE MIAS (24 December 1822 – 14 January 1901) was a French mathematician who did research concerning number theory, quadratic forms, invariant theory, orthogonal polynomials, elliptic functions, and algebra.
Hermi ...
), were developing a system for dealing with n-dimensional algebra and geometry. During this period Salmon published about 36 papers in journals. In these papers for the most part he solved narrowly defined, concrete problems in algebraic geometry, as opposed to more broadly systematic or foundational questions. But he was an early adopter of the foundational innovations of Cayley and the others. In 1859 he published the book ''Lessons Introductory to the Modern Higher Algebra'' (where the word "higher" means n-dimensional). This was for a while simultaneously the state-of-the-art and the standard presentation of the subject, and went through updated and expanded editions in 1866, 1876 and 1885, and was translated into German and French.
From 1858 to 1867 he was the
Donegall Lecturer in Mathematics
The Donegall Lecturership at Trinity College Dublin, is one of two endowed mathematics positions at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the other being the Erasmus Smith's Chair of Mathematics. The Donegall (sometimes spelt Donegal) Lectureship was e ...
at Trinity.
Meanwhile, back in 1848 Salmon had published an undergraduate textbook entitled ''A Treatise on Conic Sections''. This text remained in print for over fifty years, going through five updated editions in English, and was translated into German, French and Italian. Salmon himself did not participate in the expansions and updates of the more later editions. The German version, which was a "free adaptation" by
Wilhelm Fiedler
Otto Wilhelm Fiedler (3 April 1832 in Chemnitz – 19 November 1912 in Zurich) was a German-Swiss mathematician, known for his textbooks of geometry and his contributions to descriptive geometry.
Life
Fiedler was the son of a shoemaker. He ...
, was popular as an undergraduate text in Germany. Salmon also published two other mathematics texts, ''A Treatise on Higher Plane Curves'' (1852) and ''A Treatise on the Analytic Geometry of Three Dimensions'' (1862). These too were in print for a long time and went through a number of later editions, with Salmon delegating the work of the later editions to others.
In 1858 he was presented with the
Cunningham Medal
The Cunningham Medal is the premier award of the Royal Irish Academy. It is awarded every three years in recognition of "outstanding contributions to scholarship and the objectives of the Academy".
History
It was which was established in 1796 at t ...
of the
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...
. In June 1863 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 ...
followed in 1868 by the award of their
Royal Medal
The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important ...
"''For his researches in analytical geometry and the theory of surfaces''". In 1889 Salmon received the
Copley Medal
The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society, for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science". It alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences. Given every year, the medal is t ...
of the society, the highest honorary award in British science, but by then he had long since lost his interest in mathematics and science.
Salmon received honorary degrees from several universities, including that of ''Doctor mathematicae (
honoris causa
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
)'' from the
Royal Frederick University
The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
on 6 September 1902, when they celebrated the centennial of the birth of
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 ...
Niels Henrik Abel
Niels Henrik Abel ( , ; 5 August 1802 – 6 April 1829) was a Norwegian mathematician who made pioneering contributions in a variety of fields. His most famous single result is the first complete proof demonstrating the impossibility of solvin ...
.
is named in honor of George Salmon.
Theology
From the early 1860s onward Salmon was primarily occupied with theology. In 1866 he was appointed
Regius Professor of Divinity at TCD, at which point he resigned from his position in the mathematics department at TCD. In 1871 he accepted an additional post of chancellor of
St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
Saint Patrick's Cathedral ( ir, Ard-Eaglais Naomh Pádraig) in Dublin, Ireland, founded in 1191 as a Roman Catholic cathedral, is currently the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Christ Church Cathedr ...
.
One of his early publications in theology was in 1853 as a contributor to a book of rebuttals to the ''
Tracts for the Times
The Tracts for the Times were a series of 90 theological publications, varying in length from a few pages to book-length, produced by members of the English Oxford Movement, an Anglo-Catholic revival group, from 1833 to 1841. There were about a do ...
''. Arguments against Roman Catholicism were a recurring theme in Salmon's theology and culminated in his widely read 1888 book ''Infallibility of the Church'' in which he argued that certain beliefs of the Roman church were absurd, especially the beliefs in the
infallibility of the church
The infallibility of the Church is the belief that the Holy Spirit preserves the Christian Church from errors that would contradict its essential doctrines. It is related to, but not the same as, indefectibility, that is, "she remains and will rem ...
and the
infallibility of the pope. Salmon also wrote books about eternal punishment, miracles, and interpretation of the New Testament. His book ''An Historical Introduction to the Study of the Books of the New Testament'', which was widely read, is an account of the reception and interpretation of the gospels in the early centuries of Christianity as seen through the writings of leaders such as
Irenaeus
Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...
and
Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...
.
Chess
Salmon was a keen
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 disti ...
player. He was a patron to the University Chess Club, and was also the President of Dublin Chess Club from 1890–1903. He participated in the second
British Chess Congress and had the honour of playing the chess prodigy
Paul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837 – July 10, 1884) was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and is often considered the unofficial World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he was ca ...
in Birmingham, England, on 27 August 1858. He beat
Daniel Harrwitz
Daniel Harrwitz (22 February 1821 – 2 January 1884) was a German chess master.
Harrwitz was born in Breslau (Wrocław) in the Prussian Province of Silesia. Harrwitz's correct birth and death dates (22 February 1821 and 2 January 1884 respectiv ...
in an interesting game.
Even in his book ''Infallibility of the Church'', Salmon mentions chess a few times:
*He argues that the doctrine of papal infallibility is vitally important for opponents of Catholicism to refute; otherwise all other arguments would be of little importance, as when a chessplayer wins many pieces but his king is
checkmate
Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game.
In chess, the king is ...
d.
*In another chess reference Salmon said that if one met someone who says that he has never been beaten, this player could be given
rook odds
Handicaps (or "odds") in chess are handicapping chess variant, variants which enable a weaker player to have a chance of winning against a stronger one. There are a variety of such handicaps, such as List of chess terms#Material, material odds (th ...
. Thus "the delusion of invincibility can never grow up in the mind of anyone except one who has never met a strong antagonist."
*Salmon said that if one played someone who would normally receive
queen odds, then one would go easy and not be too strict, e.g. allowing take-backs. Thus he is so convinced that the Popes have erred that he is not threatened by acknowledging when they have been right.
Provost of Trinity College Dublin
![George-Salmon-Trinity-2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/George-Salmon-Trinity-2012.JPG)
Salmon was Provost of Trinty from 1888 until his death in 1904. The highlight of his career may have been when in 1892 he presided over the great celebrations marking the tercentenary of the College, which had been founded by Queen Elizabeth I.
Admission of women to Trinity
In 1870, Trinity had introduced the ''Examinations for Women'', following a request from
Alexandra College
Alexandra College ( ir, Coláiste Alexandra) is a fee-charging boarding and day school for girls located in Milltown, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under a Church of Ireland ethos.
History
The school was founded in 1866 and takes its ...
.
In 1880, while
Humphrey Lloyd was provost,
Samuel Haughton
Samuel Haughton (21 December 1821 – 31 October 1897) was an Irish clergyman, medical doctor, and scientific writer.
Biography
The scientist Samuel Haughton was born in Carlow, the son of another Samuel Haughton (1786-1874) and grandson (by h ...
,
Anthony Traill,
John Jellett and others proposed that degrees be open to women, on the same terms as men. Lloyd, as provost, was not a supporter, and the motion was defeated. In 1881, Jellett became provost, and committee was set up in 1882 to investigate the matter, including future provosts Salmon and Trail, respectively opposing and supporting admission. Despite the support of the provost, the committee was not effective.
Salmon was provost during the campaign for admission by the Central Association of Irish Schoolmistresses (CAISM), in which
Alice Oldham
Alice Oldham (1850–1907) was one of the '' Nine Graces'', the first nine women to graduate from University with a degree in either Great Britain or Ireland. Oldham was a leader of the campaign for higher education of women in Ireland and in p ...
was an important figure. Salmon and the board were not generally receptive to the campaign. While Salmon was a conservative, his strong opposition to the admission of women cannot be dismissed simply; he had been a member of the council of Alexandra College, had supported girls competing on equal terms with boys in Intermediate examinations and his daughter, from the provost's house, had acted as coordinator for the Examinations for Women and was a member of CAISM.
[ In 1896, all eight members of the board were over 70 years of age, but by 1901 retirements and deaths had resulted in the majority of the board being pro-admission.]
In 1902, John Mahaffy proposed that the time had come to take action on the issue of awarding degrees to women. This was passed by the board, and, though the motion was opposed by Salmon, a committee was set up to report, and by the end of the year the board resolved that the Lord Lieutenant
A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...
, William Ward should be petitioned to move the king to issue new Letters Patent for admission of Women.[ In 1903, Ward replied, indicating that the agreement of the provost was essential before Letters Patent would be issued. Salmon wrote withdrawing his formal objections in July 1903. The Letters Patten were received by the board on 16 January 1904. This was Salmon's last board meeting.][
He is alleged to have said that women would only be admitted to Trinity as students over his dead body. Coincidentally, immediately after his death on 22 January 1904, ]Isabel Marion Weir Johnston
Isabel Marion Weir Johnston (1883–1969), known as Marrion Kelleher (née Johnston), was the first woman to enter Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) in January 1904.
Family
Johnston was born 25 November 1883 in Derry City in Ireland to a Presbyte ...
became the first woman undergraduate to succeed in registering at Trinity, and by the end of year dozens of other women had done likewise. She recalled, "When I arrived in Dublin 1904, I was informed that he almonhad died that day, and the examination had to be put off until after the funeral."
Death
Salmon continued to attend board meetings up to his death. At his death, Salmon had been a familiar figure in Trinity for over 62 years, and was held in affection even by those who disagreed with him.[ Both Trail and Mahaffy were eager to succeed Salmon as provost, and were lobbying to secure the position on the day of his death. Just before his death, Salmon is said to have anticipated this in another apocryphal story. He dreamed that he was dead, and his funeral was processing across front square, followed by weeping Fellows and Scholars. His coffin was laid in the chapel, "and then", he said, "I sat up in my coffin, whereupon Mahaffy and Trail wept louder than ever".][
]
Bibliography
* 1848: ''A Treatise on Conic Sections''
Third edition, 1855
Fourth edition, 1863
via Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
* 1852: ''A Treatise on Higher Plane Curves: Intended as a sequel to a Treatise on Conic Sections''
Third edition, 1879
* 1859: ''Lessons Introductory to the Modern Higher Algebra'' 172 pages. 2nd edition (1866) 326 pages
3rd edition, 1876
354 pages. 4th edition (1885) 360 pages (with some additions by Cathcart to the chapters on binary quantics). 5th edition (1964) 376 pages (the contents of the 4th edition, together with some sections from the 2nd edition omitted in the 3rd and 4th editions).
* 1862: ''A Treatise on the Analytic Geometry of Three Dimensions''
5th edition, 1915
via Internet Archive, Reviews:
* 1864: ''The Eternity of Future Punishment''
* 1873: ''The Reign of Law''
* 1881: ''Non-miraculous Christianity''
* 1885: ''Introduction to the New Testament''
* 1888: ''The Infallibility of the Church''
Third edition, 1899
* 1897
Some Thoughts on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament
via Internet Archive
See also
*Cubic surface
In mathematics, a cubic surface is a surface in 3-dimensional space defined by one polynomial equation of degree 3. Cubic surfaces are fundamental examples in algebraic geometry. The theory is simplified by working in projective space rather than a ...
* Glossary of invariant theory
* Quaternary cubic
*Ternary quartic In mathematics, a ternary quartic form is a degree 4 homogeneous polynomial in three variables.
Hilbert's theorem
showed that a positive semi-definite ternary quartic form over the reals can be written as a sum of three squares of quadratic form ...
* Salmon points
References
Further reading
* C. J. Joly (1905) "George Salmon 1819 — 1904", Proceedings of the Royal Society
''Proceedings of the Royal Society'' is the main research journal of the Royal Society. The journal began in 1831 and was split into two series in 1905:
* Series A: for papers in physical sciences and mathematics.
* Series B: for papers in life s ...
75:347–55.
External links
*
* Sarah Nesbitt (2005
George Salmon: from Mathematics to Theology
from University of Saint Andrews
(Aien aristeuein)
, motto_lang = grc
, mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best
, established =
, type = Public research university
Ancient university
, endowment ...
.
* G. Salmon (1879
Treatise on Conic Sections
link from University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
Historical Math Collection.
Salmon's Tracts
fro
Evangelical Tracts
* Rod Gow (1997
George Salmon: His Mathematical Work and Influence
from Bulletin of the Irish Mathematical Society
The Irish Mathematical Society ( ga, Cumann Matamaitice na hÉireann) or IMS is the main professional organisation for mathematicians in Ireland. The society aims to further mathematics and mathematical research in Ireland. Its membership is in ...
.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salmon, George
1819 births
1904 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Burials at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium
Donegall Lecturers of Mathematics at Trinity College Dublin
Fellows of the British Academy
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of Trinity College Dublin
Irish mathematicians
Irish chess players
Irish Anglican theologians
People from County Cork
Provosts of Trinity College Dublin
Recipients of the Copley Medal
Regius Professors of Divinity (University of Dublin)
Royal Medal winners
Scholars of Trinity College Dublin
19th-century Irish mathematicians
19th-century chess players