Lucasian professor - Definition and Overview

The incumbent of the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics, the Lucasian professor is the holder of a mathematical professorship at Cambridge University. The post was founded in 1663 by Henry Lucas, who was Cambridge University's Member of Parliament from 1639–1640, and was officially established by King Charles II on January 18, 1664. Lucas, in his will, bequeathed his library of 4,000 volumes to the University and left instruction for the purchase of land whose yielding would provide £100 a year for the founding of a professorship. One of the requirements in Lucas' will was that the holder of the professorship should not be active in the church. Isaac Newton would later appeal to King Charles II that this requirement excused him from taking holy orders, which was compulsory for all Fellows of the University at that time, but which would have been incompatible with his Arian beliefs. The King supported Newton and excused all holders of the professorship, in perpetuity, from the requirement to take holy orders.

List of Lucasian Professors

• 1664 Isaac Barrow
• 1669 Sir Isaac Newton
• 1702 William Whiston
• 1711 Nicolas Saunderson
• 1739 John Colson
• 1760 Edward Waring
• 1798 Isaac Milner
• 1820 Robert Woodhouse
• 1822 Thomas Turton
• 1826 Sir George Airy
• 1828 Charles Babbage
• 1839 Joshua King
• 1849 Sir George Stokes
• 1903 Sir Joseph Larmor
• 1932 Paul Dirac
• 1969 Sir M. James Lighthill
• 1980 Stephen Hawking

In the last episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the android Data (one of the main characters on the show) holds the Lucasian Chair. This episode is set around the year 2395.

See also

• List of Professorships at the University of Cambridge

References

• A Brief History of The Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics at Cambridge University (http://www.lucasianchair.org/brief.html)
• Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge University (http://www.lucasianchair.org)
• Kevin Knox and Richard Noakes, From Newton to Hawking: A History of Cambridge University's Lucasian Professors of Mathematics ISBN 0521663105