At the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
in England, a "Wrangler" is a student who gains
first-class honours in the
Mathematical Tripos
The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.
Origin
In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was a di ...
competition. The highest-scoring student is the
Senior Wrangler, the second highest is the Second Wrangler, and so on. By contrast, the person who achieves the lowest exam marks while still earning a third-class honours degree (that is, while still earning an honours degree at all) is known as the
wooden spoon
A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture.
History
The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...
.
History
Until 1909, the university made the rankings public. Since 1910, it has publicly revealed only the class of degree gained by each student. An examiner reveals the identity of the Senior Wrangler "unofficially" by tipping his hat when reading out the person's name, but other rankings are communicated to each student privately. Therefore, the names of only some 20th-century
Senior Wranglers (such as
Crispin Nash-Williams,
Christopher Budd,
Frank P. Ramsey
Frank Plumpton Ramsey (; 22 February 1903 – 19 January 1930) was a British people, British philosopher, mathematician, and economist who made major contributions to all three fields before his death at the age of 26. He was a close friend of ...
,
Donald Coxeter,
Kevin Buzzard,
Jayant Narlikar, George Reid and
Ben J. Green) have become publicly known.
Another notable was
Philippa Fawcett
Philippa Garrett Fawcett (4 April 1868 – 10 June 1948) was an English mathematician and educator. She was the first woman to obtain the top score in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos exams. She taught at Newnham College, Cambridge, and at the n ...
. She was educated at
Newnham College, Cambridge, which had been co-founded by
her mother. In 1890, Fawcett became the first woman to obtain the top score in the Cambridge Mathematical
Tripos
TRIPOS (''TRIvial Portable Operating System'') is a computer operating system. Development started in 1976 at the Computer Laboratory of Cambridge University and it was headed by Dr. Martin Richards. The first version appeared in January 1978 a ...
exams. Her score was 13 per cent higher than the second-highest score. When the women's list was announced, Fawcett was described as "above the senior wrangler", but she did not receive the title of senior wrangler, as at that time only men could receive degrees and therefore only men were eligible for the Senior Wrangler title. The results were always highly publicised, with the top scorers receiving great acclaim. Women had been allowed to take the Tripos since 1881, after
Charlotte Angas Scott was unofficially ranked as eighth wrangler.
It was recorded that "virtually every high wrangler (for whom records exist) participated in some form of regular
physical exercise
Exercise or workout is physical activity that enhances or maintains fitness and overall health. It is performed for various reasons, including weight loss or maintenance, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardio ...
to preserve his strength and stamina."
[Andrew Warwick (2003) ''Masters of Theory: Cambridge and the Rise of Mathematical Physics'', page 197, ]University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...
Obtaining the position of a highly ranked Wrangler created many opportunities for the individual's subsequent profession. Such individuals would often become
Fellow
A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
s initially, before moving on to other professions.
Throughout the United Kingdom and the British Empire, university mathematics professors were often among the top three Wranglers.
The order of Wranglers was widely publicised and shaped the public perception of mathematics as being the most intellectually challenging of all subjects. According to Andrew Warwick, author of ''Masters of Theory'', the term "Senior Wrangler" became "synonymous with academic supremacy".
[
]
Past wranglers
Top marks in the Cambridge mathematics exam did not always guarantee the Senior Wrangler success in life; the exams were largely a test of speed in applying familiar rules, and some of the most inventive and original students of Mathematics at Cambridge did not come top of their class. Lord Kelvin
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (26 June 182417 December 1907), was a British mathematician, Mathematical physics, mathematical physicist and engineer. Born in Belfast, he was the Professor of Natural Philosophy (Glasgow), professor of Natur ...
was second, William Henry Bragg was third, Augustus De Morgan and G. H. Hardy
Godfrey Harold Hardy (7 February 1877 – 1 December 1947) was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. In biology, he is known for the Hardy–Weinberg principle, a basic principle of pop ...
were fourth, Adam Sedgwick fifth, Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...
seventh, Thomas Robert Malthus
Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English economist, cleric, and scholar influential in the fields of political economy and demography.
In his 1798 book ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Mal ...
ninth, John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist and philosopher whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originall ...
twelfth, and some fared even worse: Klaus Roth was not even a wrangler.
Joan Clarke, who helped to break the Nazi Enigma code at Bletchley Park, was a wrangler at Cambridge and earned a double first in mathematics, although she was prevented from receiving a full degree based on the university's policy of awarding degrees only to men. That policy was abandoned in 1948.
The present Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees, a wrangler, went on to become one of the world's leading scientists, also holding the illustrious posts of Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and President of the Royal Society, and being a member of the Order of Merit.
Optimes
Students who achieve second-class and third-class mathematics degrees are known as Senior Optimes (second-class) and Junior Optimes (third-class). Cambridge did not divide its examination classification in mathematics into 2:1s and 2:2s until 1995 but now there are ''Senior Optimes Division 1'' and ''Senior Optimes Division 2''.
In fiction
*"The Senior Wrangler" is a member of the faculty of Unseen University in Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...
's Discworld series of novel
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
s.
* Roger Hamley, a character in Elizabeth Gaskell's '' Wives and Daughters'', achieved the rank of Senior Wrangler.
* Vivie Warren, the headstrong heroine of George Bernard Shaw's '' Mrs. Warren's Profession'' (1893) and daughter of the play's infamous madam, tied with the Third Wrangler, settling for that place because she recognized that "it was not worth erwhile to face the grind" because she did not intend an academic career for herself.
*"Wrangler" is a jargon
Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside ...
term applied to codebreakers in some of John Le Carré's spy novels, such as '' Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy''.
* Thomas Jericho, the main character of Robert Harris's book '' Enigma'', was Senior Wrangler in 1938.
* In Ford Madox Ford's '' Parade's End'', reference is made to the fact that Christopher Tietjens left Cambridge as "a mere Second Wrangler".
* In Rumer Godden's '' In This House of Brede'', Dame Agnes is noted to have been Eighth Wrangler before entering the abbey.
* In C S Forester's book, '' The General'', a member of the main character's staff (the deputy assistant quartermaster-general, Spiller) is described as a Second Wrangler.
* In Bram Stoker
Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912), better known by his pen name Bram Stoker, was an Irish novelist who wrote the 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. The book is widely considered a milestone in Vampire fiction, and one of t ...
's ''The Judge's House'', the main character Malcom Malcomson is looking for a quiet place to stay whilst preparing his Mathematical Tripos
The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.
Origin
In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was a di ...
examinations. Mrs Witham, the inn's landlady, warns Malcom about the judge's house, but the charwoman, Mrs Dempster, dispels these fears – explaining she is not afraid of 'bogies' because they are only rats. Malcom replies: "Mrs. Dempster, ..you know more than a Senior Wrangler! And let me say, that, as a mark of esteem for your indubitable soundness of head and heart, I shall, when I go, give you possession of this house, and let you stay here by yourself for the last two months of my tenancy, for four weeks will serve my purpose."
See also
* List of mathematics awards
Notes
References
*
* Peter Groenewegen (2003). ''A Soaring Eagle: Alfred Marshall 1842-1924''. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. .
** gives the story about Rayleigh; Alfred Marshall
Alfred Marshall (26 July 1842 – 13 July 1924) was an English economist and one of the most influential economists of his time. His book ''Principles of Economics (Marshall), Principles of Economics'' (1890) was the dominant economic textboo ...
was the commoner who came second to Rayleigh.
* C. M. Neale (1907) ''The Senior Wranglers of the University of Cambridge''. Availabl
online
External links
Information on the wranglers in the period 1860–1940 can be extracted from the BritMath database:
Many of the wranglers who made careers in mathematics can be identified by searching on "wrangler" in:
The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
{{University of Cambridge
1748 establishments in England
1909 disestablishments in England
Mathematical awards and prizes of the University of Cambridge
Mathematics education in the United Kingdom
Terminology of the University of Cambridge