Savilian chair of geometry - Definition

The Savilian Chair of Geometry is the position of professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford in England. The holder is now a member of the University's Mathematical Institute.

History

In 1619 Sir Henry Savile founded a chair of Geometry and a Chair of Astronomy at the University of Oxford.

Savile required that the professor of geometry teach the whole of Euclid's Elements, Apollonius's Conics and the complete works of Archimedes. His course notes had to be deposited in the University Library. He was also required to show the practical applications of mathematics, teach arithmetic, mechanics and the theory of music.

List of Savilian Professors

• 1619 Henry Briggs
• 1631 Peter Turner
• 1649 John Wallis
• 1704 Edmond Halley
• 1742 Nathaniel Bliss
• 1765 Joseph Betts
• 1766 John Smith
• 1797 Abraham Robertson
• 1810 Stephen Peter Rigaud
• 1827 Harry Baden-Powell
• 1861 Henry John Stephen Smith
• 1883 James Joseph Sylvester
• 1897 William Esson
• 1920 Godfrey Harold Hardy
• 1932 Edward Charles Titchmarsh
• 1963 Michael Francis Atiyah
• 1969 Ioan MacKenzie James
• 1995 Richard Lawrence Taylor
• 1997 Nigel James Hitchin

See Also

The Lucasian professor is a similiar position at the University of Cambridge

External links

• The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive  (http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Societies/Savilian.html)

• a lecture on the history of mathematics at Oxford University  (http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/about/history/)