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, 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. 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 mat ...

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 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 ...

was second, Bragg was third, De Morgan 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, a ...

seventh, Malthus 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 no ...

, 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.

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 Faculty may refer to: * Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage) * Faculty (division) A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject ...

of Unseen University in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of novels. * Roger Hamley, a character in Elizabeth Gaskell'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 ...

'' (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 communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a partic ...

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. ...

'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 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 Roya ...

'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'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 ...

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 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