Lucasian Chair.org

Whatever nature has in store for mankind, unpleasant as it may be, men must accept, for ignorance is never better than knowledge. --- Enrico Fermi

An important professorship of mathematick, the Lucasian Chair, was deeded in December 1663 at Cambridge University, England. Henry Lucas, a Member of Parliament for the university from 1639 to 1640, left instructions in his will for the purchase of land with a value that would provide an annual income of pounds100 to support the professorship. King Charles II signed the letter of acceptance of the deed on January 18, 1664 and Isaac Barrow, the first professor to occupy the Chair, took office in February, 1664. He gave the first lecture on March 14, 1664. ¹ All undergraduates were required to attend the Lucasian lectures starting in their third year. The Lucasian Chair celebrated the 330th anniversary of its founding December 1993.

The Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics is the most famous academic chair in the world. The current holder, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, is as well known as any scientist alive. His book, A Brief History of Time,² stayed on the New York Times best seller list for years, rare for scientific works of this nature. He also appeared on a popular television series, appeared on the cover of several non-scientific, popular magazines and has been the subject of a film. The Chair was also held by Sir Isaac Newton, who is as well known as anyone in the history of science.

The Chair was recently thrust into the public eye in the last episode of the popular television series Star Trek The Next Generation in May 1994. The series takes place in the twenty-fourth century. This episode finds the android character, Data, appearing as the Lucasian Professor in Sir Isaac Newton's home at Cambridge. In a previous episode dealing with time, Stephen Hawking appeared as himself, playing poker with Data, Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. One can only wonder what Newton and Einstein would have thought about that.

What is not so commonly known is that the Chair has been held by others who represent some of the best and most influential minds in science and technology the world has known. This group of seventeen men who have held the Chair has changed the world unlike any other group in history. The three hundred thirty years that have passed since its founding have seen a dramatic evolution of science. Only the future can offer as much in one place. The chair represents a microcosm of the world's progress over the past three centuries, from the Scientific Revolution to the world of technology that we know today.

The Chair's story began only thirty years after the trial of Galileo, as people began to abandon superstitious beliefs. Sir Isaac Newton, the second holder of the Chair, took Galileo's ideas and advanced them to a new level. The century following the publication of Newton's Principia witnessed an explosion of scientific knowledge that continues today.

The story of academic chairs is an old one originating in the days of patronage. The earliest chair of mathematics in England was established for geometry at Gresham College by Robert Gresham in 1596. ³ Oxford University has an important chair of geometry founded by Sir Henry Savil, as well as a Savilian chair in astronomy.

Cambridge University has a rich history of chairs, starting with the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity, founded by the mother of Henry VII in 1502. For an annual salary of just under pounds14, the professor was required to give public readings of approved theological works four days a week. The duties did not change until the mid-1800s, but the salary had increased to about pounds1000 by that time. It appears, however, that in practice the number of lectures delivered rarely met the requirement: the excuse was lack of interest by the students. Professor Herbert Marsh took a bold step in 1809 to improve the situation by delivering his lectures in English. He apologized for using the vulgar tongue, but justified it on the grounds that it was the only way to attract an audience. He was correct in his assessment, setting the standard for all those who followed him. ⁴

Five Regius Professorships of Divinity, Greek, Hebrew, Law and Physic (medicine, not physics) were founded in 1540 by Henry VIII. Each professorship commanded a salary of 40 pounds. ⁵ Civil Law and Physic were supported by the Crown, the others by the university. Over time the Divinity professorship emerged as the higher status position. King James I annexed the chair to the rectory in Somersham, thereby increasing its financial value. The chair degenerated into a sinecure with little scholarly value until Dr. John Kaye took office in 1816. He reinstituted the lectures after a century of quiet, just as Herbert Marsh had done for the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity.

The Lucasian Professorship was the next chair to be endowed at Cambridge University, almost 125 years later, in 1663. It was followed in 1704 by the founding of the Plumian Professorship of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy. The Archdeacon of Rochester, Thomas Plume left 1900 pounds for this purpose. The bequest required that an observatory be built along with housing for the professor. William Whiston, the Lucasian Professor that year, sat on the committee that elected Roger Cotes the first Plumian Professor. ⁶ From all accounts, including those of Whiston and Sir Isaac Newton, Cotes was a gifted scholar, who set a high standard for the new chair and his successors. This chair was held in later years by Sir George Airy and Robert Woodhouse, both of whom were also Lucasian Professors.

The Lucasian Chair is one of mathematics, the foundation of science and engineering, and therefore the chair has been a focus of many fields. At the time of its foundation, mathematics was undergoing major changes, with a concentration on the development of calculus. Physics was at the threshold of a revolution under the guiding hand of Isaac Newton. The contributions of Newton were monumental, for even today, 300 years later, his work is still influential. But in the century following Newton, the same level of invention among the men taking the Chair was not evident. It is unfortunate that, in spite of the high caliber of the chair holders, all mathematicians concentrating only on mathematics, the expected potential was not achieved.

The nineteenth century saw a rebirth of creativity accompanied by turmoil, and the occupancy of the chair by its least productive holder, Joshua King. In spite of this, several men held the Chair who were equal to the task, such as Sir George Airy, an astronomer, not only a mathematician. Later Chair holders included, Charles Babbage who virtually created computer science as we know it today, and Sir George Stokes who worked in fluid mechanics. His contributions to the understanding of fluids were fundamental to the field and his equations are still used daily in calculations for the design of aircraft and automobiles. Stokes also brought stability to the chair by holding it with distinction for over fifty years to the end of the century.

The twentieth century returned the Chair to its original intention of supporting excellence in scholarship with men such as Paul Dirac in quantum mechanics, Sir M. James Lighthill in aeroacoustics, and Stephen Hawking in cosmology. Although great numbers of prizes, awards and honors have been bestowed on these men, Dirac is the only one to have received a Nobel Prize. Lucasian professors have been classical scholars, theorists, physicists, computer scientists, astronomers, and fluid mechanists, with the field of mathematics providing the unifying basis for them all.

For 100 pounds, the world has received quite a bit of knowledge: calculus, gravity, laws of motion, optics, fluid mechanics, quantum mechanics, eye--glasses for astigmatism, the computer, programming languages, and black holes are illustrations. All holders of the Chair have been members of the Royal Society except three: William Whiston, Thomas Turton and Joshua King. Isaac Newton, George Airy, and George Stokes were presidents of the Royal Society. Airy, Stokes, Larmor, and Lighthill were vice-presidents; and Stokes, Larmor, and Lighthill were secretaries. Besides Newton, Airy, Stokes, Larmor and Lighthill were honored with knighthood. The Royal Society recognizes individuals by awarding medals. Its Copley Medal is its highest honor and has been given to Waring, Airy, Stokes, Larmor, and Dirac. The Royal Medal has been given to Airy, Larmor, and Dirac, the Rumford Medal to Stokes and the Hughes Medal to Hawking. Paul Dirac won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933. Newton, Stokes and Larmor represented Cambridge University in parliament. The seventeen men that have occupied the Chair have advanced knowledge far out of proportion to their number, with entire disciplines in their debt.

The Chair's participation in the history of science and technology is one of great interest. The development of science and technology is captured in the activities of the men who held it from the Scientific Revolution to the modern day. Science and religion have been intertwined for as long as we can remember, at times with great animosity. The holders of the chair have had varying degrees of involvement with religion. To become a professor at Cambridge in 1664, one had to have taken holy orders. Isaac Barrow had not, but was able to get a dispensation from this requirement. He was however a religious man. The problem was not between religion and other things, but rather between particular forms of religion, because religion was very political in nature. Barrow attempted to explain religious history through his science, as did Newton and Whiston. Newton was not public about his religious beliefs, but did leave documents on the topic. Whiston was very public and disagreed with the powerful religious beliefs and was forced out of the chair. The religious issues were quiet for the rest of the 18th century, but the last man to take office in the 1700's, Isaac Milner, was in fact Reverend Milner. The men who followed him were not ordained, but most were quite religious. The folowing table lists the names, years and disciplines of the professors who have held the Lucasian Chair. Although they all began as mathematicians, several specialized in fields other than mathematics. Still, for those who continued their work after assuming the Chair, mathematics provided the foundation for their work

     Professor                Life Dates  Chair Dates  Specialty 

1.   Isaac Barrow            1630-1677   1664-1669  Classics  Mathematics
2.   Sir Isaac Newton        1642-1727   1669-1702  Mathematics  Physics
3.   William Whiston         1667 1752   1702-1710  Mathematics
4.   Nicolas Saunderson      1682-1739   1711-1739  Mathematics
5.   John  Colson            1680-1760   1739-1760  Mathematics
6.   Edward Waring           1736-1798   1760-1798  Mathematics
7.   Isaac Milner            1750-1820   1798-1820  Mathematics  Chemistry
8.   Robert Woodhouse        1773-1827   1820-1822  Mathematics
9.   Thomas Turton           1780-1864   1822-1826  Mathematics
10.  Sir George Airy         1801-1892   1826-1828  Astronomy
11.  Charles Babbage         1792-1871   1828-1839  Mathematics  Computing
12.  Joshua King             1798-1857   1839-1849  Mathematics 
13.  Sir George Stokes       1819-1903   1849-1903  Physics  Fluid Mechanics
14.  Sir Joseph Larmor       1857-1942   1903-1932  Physics
15.  Paul Dirac              1902-1984   1932-1969  Physics
16.  Sir M. James Lighthill  1924-       1969-1980  Fluid Mechanics
17.  Stephen Hawking         1942-       1980-      Theoretical Physics

When the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics was inaugurated at Cambridge University in 1664, the language of scholarship was Latin. Over the years, the use of Latin dwindled, slowly being replaced by vernacular English. This transition is interesting in its own right, but the history of the Chair shows how it happened in terms of faculty publications and lectures.

In the seventeenth century, both Isaac Barrow and Isaac Newton, like all traditional scholars, wrote in Latin. Barrow was fluent in both classical Greek and Italian. Newton's great works were written in Latin and were not translated into English until after his death. There was no question which language was to be used at the time.

The eighteenth century was the beginning of the transition, as William Whiston wrote in both English and Latin. Most of his religious works were written in English, while he used both languages for his scientific work. The two subsequent holders of the chair, Nicolas Saunderson and John Colson wrote in English. Saunderson did not attempt to publish his works, but his book was published posthumously. Perhaps if he had intended publication, he would have written in Latin. Colson not only wrote in English, but translated works into English to make them available to a wider audience. Both men of course were trained in Latin. Edward Waring wrote and published his mathematical works in Latin, while Isaac Milner wrote in English. It is clear that this century was the turning point for the Latin-English question, with English eventually becoming more prevalent.

The nineteenth century saw no more publications written in Latin by the Lucasian professors. Milner had been in the chair only two years when the new century began and spent twenty of his twenty--two years in the chair as a citizen of the nineteenth century. Like those who followed, English was his language of choice. Only the first one-third of the Chair's history was part of the Latin tradition. Once Milner took the Chair in 1798, English was used for publications of scholarly work. In 1823 George Airy presented his oral defense for the bachelor's degree in Latin, although he published his scientific works in English.

Footnotes

1. Gale Christianson, In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton and His Times (New York: The Free Press, 1984), 64.
2. Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam, 1988).
3. Howard Eves, An Introduction to the History of Mathematics (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969), 249.
4. D. A. Winstanley, Unreformed Cambridge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1935), 100.
5. Winstanley, Unreformed Cambridge, 122.
6. Winstanley, Unreformed Cambridge, 149.