![Morgan Crofton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Morgan_Crofton.jpeg)
Morgan Crofton (1826,
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 ...
, Ireland – 1915,
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, England) was an Irish mathematician who contributed to the field of
geometric probability theory. He also worked with
James Joseph 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 ro ...
and contributed an article on probability to the 9th edition of the
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
.
Crofton's formula is named in his honour.
Early life
Morgan Crofton was born into a wealthy
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...
family. His father, the
Reverend
The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...
William Crofton,
Rector of Skreene, Co Sligo, was the younger brother of
Sir Malby Crofton,
2nd Baronet of Longford House. He was also the cousin of
Lord Edward Crofton,
Baron Crofton Baron Crofton is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1797 (as Baroness Crofton) for Dame Anne Crofton. She was the widow of Sir Edward Crofton, 2nd Baronet, of the Mote, who had represented Roscommon in the Irish House of Commons ...
of the Mote. Despite being born into an
aristocratic
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'.
At the time of the word's ...
,
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 ...
family, Crofton joined to the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in the 1850s in part due to an interest in
Cardinal John Henry Newman.
This led to his resignation at
Queen's College, Galway
The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...
and transference to various Catholic colleges.
He married twice: firstly on 31 August 1857 Julia Agnes Cecilia, daughter of J B Kernan (died 1902) and secondly Katherine, daughter of Holland Taylor of Manchester.
Career
He was Professor of Mathematics at the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...
and Professor of Natural Philosophy 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 ...
. 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, 1868.
[http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27crofton%27%29 ]
References
External links
MacTutor biography of Crofton*
1826 births
1915 deaths
Irish mathematicians
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism
Fellows of the Royal Society
{{UK-mathematician-stub