At 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 ...

in England, a "Wrangler" is a student who gains first-class honours in the final year of the university's degree in mathematics. The highest-scoring student is the Senior Wrangler, the second highest is the Second Wrangler, and so on. At the other end of the scale, 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. 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 Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

(such as

Crispin Nash-Williams Crispin St John Alvah Nash-Williams FRSE (19 December 1932 – 20 January 2001) was a British mathematician. His research interest was in the field of discrete mathematics, especially graph theory. Biography Nash-Williams was born on 19 Decemb ...

, Christopher Budd, Frank P. Ramsey,

Donald Coxeter Harold Scott MacDonald "Donald" Coxeter, (9 February 1907 – 31 March 2003) was a British and later also Canadian geometer. He is regarded as one of the greatest geometers of the 20th century. Biography Coxeter was born in Kensington to ...

, Kevin Buzzard, Jayant Narlikar, George Reid and

Ben J. Green Ben Joseph Green FRS (born 27 February 1977) is a British mathematician, specialising in combinatorics and number theory. He is the Waynflete Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Early life and education Ben Green was ...

) have become publicly known. Another notable was

Philippa Fawcett Philippa Garrett Fawcett (4 April 1868 – 10 June 1948) was an English mathematician and educationalist. She was the first woman to obtain the top score in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos exams. She taught at Newnham College, Cambridge, and at ...

. 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 At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

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 Charlotte Angas Scott (8 June 1858 – 10 November 1931) was a British mathematician who made her career in the United States and was influential in the development of American mathematics, including the mathematical education of women. 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 is a body activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, hone athletic ...

to preserve his strength and stamina." 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 concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

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.

Kelvin The kelvin, symbol K, is the primary unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI), used alongside its prefixed forms and the degree Celsius. It is named after the Belfast-born and University of Glasgow-based engineer and phys ...

was second, Bragg was third,

De Morgan De Morgan or de Morgan is a surname, and may refer to: * Augustus De Morgan (1806–1871), British mathematician and logician. ** De Morgan's laws (or De Morgan's theorem), a set of rules from propositional logic. ** The De Morgan Medal, a trien ...

and

Hardy Hardy may refer to: People * Hardy (surname) * Hardy (given name) * Hardy (singer), American singer-songwriter Places Antarctica * Mount Hardy, Enderby Land * Hardy Cove, Greenwich Island * Hardy Rocks, Biscoe Islands Australia * Hardy, Sout ...

were fourth, Sedgwick fifth,

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

seventh,

Malthus Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English cleric, scholar and influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Malt ...

ninth, Keynes twelfth, and some fared even worse: Klaus Roth was not even a wrangler.

Joan Clarke Joan Elisabeth Lowther Murray, MBE (''née'' Clarke; 24 June 1917 – 4 September 1996) was an English cryptanalyst and numismatist best known for her work as a code-breaker at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. Although she did not ...

, 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, Lord (Martin) Rees of Ludlow, a wrangler, went on to become one of the world's leading scientists, also holding the posts of master of Trinity College (Cambridge), and President of the Royal Society, and being a member of the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

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's Discworld series of

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s. * Roger Hamley, a character in

Elizabeth Gaskell Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (''née'' Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many st ...

's '' Wives and Daughters'', achieved the rank of Senior Wrangler at Cambridge. * Vivie Warren, the headstrong heroine of George Bernard Shaw's ''

Mrs. Warren's Profession ''Mrs. Warren's Profession'' is a play written by George Bernard Shaw in 1893, and first performed in London in 1902. The play is about a former prostitute, now a madam (brothel proprietor), who attempts to come to terms with her disapproving d ...

'' (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 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 that context. The conte ...

term applied to codebreakers in some of

John Le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

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 came out of Cambridge as "a mere Second Wrangler". * In

Rumer Godden Margaret Rumer Godden (10 December 1907 – 8 November 1998) was an English author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably ''Black Narcissus'' in 1947 and '' The River'' in ...

's ''

In This House of Brede ''In This House of Brede'' is a novel by Rumer Godden published in 1969 by Viking in the US and by Macmillan in the UK. Synopsis The novel is a portrait of religious life in England that centers on Philippa Talbot, a highly successful profession ...

'', Dame Agnes is noted to have been Eighth Wrangler before entering the abbey. * In

C S Forester Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (27 August 1899 – 2 April 1966), known by his pen name Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester, was an English novelist known for writing tales of naval warfare, such as the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series depicting a Royal ...

'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) was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and busine ...

'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 at the University of Cambridge. It is the oldest Tripos examined at the University. Origin In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was a ...

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."

Notes

References

* * D. O. Forfar (1996/7) ''What became of the senior wranglers?'', ''Mathematical spectrum'' 29, 1–4. ** a survey of the subsequent careers of senior wranglers during the 157 years (1753–1909) in which the results of Cambridge's mathematical tripos were published in order of merit. * 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 was one of the most influential economists of his time. His book '' Principles of Economics'' (1890) was the dominant economic textbook in England for many years. I ...

was the commoner who came second to Rayleigh. * C. M. Neale (1907) ''The Senior Wranglers of the University of Cambridge''. Availabl
online
* Andrew Warwick (2003) ''Masters of Theory: Cambridge and the Rise of Mathematical Physics''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ** a very thorough account of the Cambridge system in the 19th century. Appendix A lists the top 10 wranglers from 1865 to 1909 with their coaches and their colleges.

External links