Abstract
THE Lucasian professorship of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, from which Sir Joseph Larmor retires at the end of September after holding it with distinction since 1903, is the third oldest chair of mathematics in Great Britain. The chair of geometry at Gresham College, London, was founded in 1596, the Savilian professorship of geometry at Oxford dates from 1619, while the Lucasian chair was founded in 1663, the same year in which the Royal Society received its second charter. It was founded through a bequest by Henry Lucas, who had studied at St. John's College, Cambridge, and after having served as secretary to the Earl of Holland, chancellor of the University, was elected to represent the University in Parliament. In his will he directed his executors to purchase land to the value of 100 a year to provide for the stipend of a professor of mathematics. Lucas died in London on July 22, 1663, and that game year the deeply learned and much travelled Rev. Isaac Barrow (1630-1677), already professor of Greek and Gresham professor of geometry, and afterwards master of Trinity, was elected first Lucasian professor.
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The Lucasian Professors at Cambridge. Nature 130, 117–119 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130117a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130117a0