The Lucasian Chair of Mathematics () is a mathematics professorship in the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, 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 was described by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' as one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world. Since its establishment, the professorship has been held by, among others,

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...

Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered ...

, George Stokes,

Joseph Larmor Sir Joseph Larmor (11 July 1857 – 19 May 1942) was an Irish and British physicist and mathematician who made breakthroughs in the understanding of electricity, dynamics, thermodynamics, and the electron theory of matter. His most influent ...

Paul Dirac Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (; 8 August 1902 – 20 October 1984) was an English theoretical physicist who is regarded as one of the most significant physicists of the 20th century. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the Univer ...

, and Stephen Hawking.

History

Henry Lucas, in his

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, 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.

Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered ...

applied for the vacancy in 1826, after Turton, but

Airy Airy may refer to: * Sir George Biddell Airy (1801–1892), British Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881, for whom the following features, phenomena, and theories are named: ** Airy (lunar crater) ** Airy (Martian crater) ** Airy-0, a smaller crater ...

was appointed.

William Whewell William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved dist ...

(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 and 19th Lucasian Professor is

Michael Cates Michael Elmhirst Cates (born 5 May 1961) is a British physicist. He is the 19th Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge and has held this position since 1 July 2015. He was previously Professor of Natural Philosophy at ...

, starting from 1 July 2015. The previous holder of the post was

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimen ...

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 ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.

List of Lucasian professors

Cultural references

In the final episode of the science-fiction television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', one of the main characters, the

android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

Data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...

, holds the Lucasian Chair in the late 24th century, albeit in an alternate reality.

History

List of Lucasian professors

Cultural references

References

Further reading