The Scottish Irish Mathematical Trail (July 2021)
In previous blogs here, we have surveyed Irish mathematical connections with overseas places of learning, including Cambridge and Oxford before 1900, several US areas (Caltech, Boston, Illinois), France before 1900, and Wales, to our east. This month we look north east to Scotland, with much help from the essential MacTutor website.
This Scottish/Irish blog was prepared to accompany a similarly titled plenary talk at the BSHM-CSHPM/SCHPM Conference at St Andrews on 14 July 2021. The video of that is here. The corrected slides are there. The blog has been massaged and added to often in the intervening time, to ensure that all 125+ micro-biographies are as accurate as possible; a few additional photos have come to light also.
Irish maths people have studied or worked in Scottish colleges and universities since at least the 1760s, if not earlier, including James & William Thomson in the 1800s, and Nema Dean and Nina Snigireva in this century. Scottish maths people have done likewise in Ireland since at least the 1850s, from Peter Tait, George Slesser, and Charles Niven in the 1800s, to Gordon Lessells and Alastair Wood more recently.
In addition to scholars from one country who crossed the North Channel to the other country, there are people of note from elsewhere who spent time in both countries: e.g., Joseph Everett, Edmund Whittaker, and Andrew Young. There are also people from one country who received honorary degrees from a university in the other country. We attempt to account for all of these in the table that follows. As usual, some of the associations were short lived and some connections are tenuous. Furthermore, we include several people with physics, engineering, or computer science leanings: either because their first degrees were in maths or maths physics, or on account of later research of a mathematical nature.
However, we do not include the over 100 non-Irish or non-Scottish people who either did doctorates in Scotland under Irish thesis advisors, or doctorates in Ireland under Scottish advisors; including those would swell the ranks quite a bit. Nor do we include relevant sabbaticals.
One could track Scottish attendance at meetings in Ireland down through the decades (e.g., Groups in Galway, the 2009 BMC in Galway, DIAS conferences), or the Irish presence at key Scottish meetings (e.g., EMS colloquia, St Andrews Group Theory conferences). That's a task for another day. Web searches bring up some good documentation, with photographs, going back almost a century.
Count the Lawin
Over the past half century, a period in which doctorates largely became expected of mathematicians in academia, it's interesting to track supervision of such postgrad work as one measure of "influence."
The numbers of doctorates supervised in Scotland by Irish mathematicians is similar to the numbers of doctorates supervised in Ireland by Scottish mathematicians (42 v 38). In the first category, Arthur Sands supervised 3 at Dundee, Dick Carson supervised 10 at St Andrews, Liam O’Carroll supervised 4 at Edinburgh, Sean McKee supervised 14 at Strathclyde, George Gettingby supervised 6 at Strathclyde, Des Johnston supervised 2 at Heriot-Watt, and Brendan Owens supervised 3 at Glasgow. In the second category, Lawrence Crane supervised 10 in Dublin, Alastair Wood supervised 5 at DCU, Rod Gow supervised 5 at UCD, Brian Dolan supervised 5 at MU, and Simon Jeffrey supervised 15 at Armagh (via TCD).
Other noteworthy examples of doctoral supervision are listed below.
Murray MacBeath was Scottish born and Irish raised, and he supervised at least 7 doctoral students, but none of those were from Irish or Scottish institutes. Similarly, Cormac Smith was Scottish born and Irish raised, and had at least 3 PhD students in Canada. Hans Schneider was Scottish raised, worked at QUB and later had 17 PhD students in the USA. English Andrew Young supervised 21 DPhil students at Coleraine. Jim Boyd is Antrim born, and supervised about 30 doctorates in Wales and England. Allan Solomon was Scottish born and Irish raised, and later supervised at least 4 doctorates at the Sorbonne. England’s Brian Henderson, who worked at TCD and Strathclyde, supervised 30 PhDs. John Kennedy was Irish born, worked at Glasgow, and later supervised 4 PhDs in Ireland. Likewise, Trevor West was Irish born, worked at Glasgow, and later supervised 2 PhDs in Ireland. Cecil Graham was Irish born, did his grad work at Glasgow, and supervised 5 PhDs in Canada. English Tigran Tchrakian did his grad work in Edinburgh, and supervised 4 PhDs in Ireland. Norwegian Jon-Ivar Skullerud did his PhD in Edin, supervised 3 PhDs in Ireland. English Mike Peardon did his PhD in Edin, supervised 6 PhDs in Ireland. Johnnie Newell is Irish, did his PhD in Glasgow, and supervised 7 PhDs in Ireland. Sinéad Ryan is Irish, did her PhD in Edinburgh, and supervised 5 PhDs in Ireland. Nial Friel is Irish, did his PhD in Glasgow, and supervised 9 PhDs in Ireland.
Toils Obscure
Less visible ways that mathematicians contribute to the practice of the profession is by being appointed to appointment boards, programme review boards, and as external examiners. In the later category, excluding thesis external examiners, here are 8 people with Scottish associations who have served in that role for Irish universities. Most were on the staff of Scottish universities (as noted), at least for part of their careers; 2 of them were Scottish mathematicians whose careers were spent in England:
W.L. Edge (Edinburgh),
Walter Ledermann (St Andrews),
Milne Anderson (born Falkirk, educated Glasgow),
Robert Rankin (Glasgow),
John Howie (Stirling, St Andrews),
Jim Clunie (born St Andrews, educated there and Aberdeen),
Sean McKee (Dundee, Strathclyde),
Rob Archbold (Aberdeen),
Colin Campbell (St Andrews).
A similar (incomplete) list could be made of Irish associated maths people who have been external examiners for Scottish universities.
Higher Rank Than A' That
There are many honorary doctorates awarded to people of interest to us by Irish or Scottish universities. Recipients from one country who got one from a university in the other country where they had studied or worked are included among the 100+ people in the table that follows. That leaves additional mathematicians from England and elsewhere with both Scottish and Irish associations. Here are 8 Irish born mathematicians with Scottish honorary doctorates.
Sligo born mathematical physicist George Stokes (1819-1903): Edinburgh LLD, Glasgow LLD, Aberdeen LLD (1886), TCD LLD.
Dublin born (and Cork reared) George Salmon (1819-1904): Edinburgh DD (1884).
Dublin born (and Essex reared) Osborne Reynolds (1842-1912): Glasgow LLD (1884).
Londonderry born mathematician and engineer John Perry (1850-1920): Glasgow LLD 1901.
Antrim born theoretical physicist Joseph Larmor (1857-1942):St Andrews, Glasgow LLD (1901), Aberdeen.
Coleraine born theoretical physicist Alexander Anderson (1858-1936): Glasgow DSc 1901.
Dublin born John L. Synge (1897-1995): St Andrews LLD 1966.
Tyrone born maths physicist David Bates (1916-1994): NUI DSc (1975), TCD ScD (1979), Glasgow LLD (1979).
For A' That and A' That
Thanks to Edmund Robertson & John O'Connor of the MacTutor project at St Andrews, and many others for valuable input over the past several years. In particular, thanks to Ted Hurley (NUIG), David Spearman (TCD), Gordon Lessells (UL), Mark McCartney (UU Jordanstown), Jim Boyd (Essex/ININ), Finbarr Holland (UCC), Tom Laffey (UCD), Olivia Bree (SPD), Tony Wickstead (QUB), and Anne van Weerden (Utrecht).
Please alert us to any omissions or errors. Last updated 10 Feb 2024.
Curiously, "Cantor landslide" is an anagram of "Scotland Ireland", and "Thirst Is historical" is an anagram of "Scottish Irish Trail". Also, "Raglan Masseuses" is an anagram of "Useless anagrams".
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1. William Trail (1746-1831) was born in Montrose, and was educated at Aberdeen and Glasgow (MA 1766). His career started at at Marischal College in Aberdeen (1766-1779), where he was the Chair of Maths, followed by over 40 years of parish life in Antrim, serving as Chancellor of Down and Connor. He was a Founder Member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1783). He published a biography of Glasgow maths professor Robert Simson (1812). |
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2. Edward Bromhead (1789-1885) was born 26 March in Dublin, and was educated at Glasgow and Cambridge (BA 1812, MA 1815), where was one of the first members of the Analytical Society. He did not practice maths for a living, but he was a key patron to two budding mathematicians, George Green and George Boole. |
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3. James Thomson (1786-1849) was born 13 November in Annaghdown near Ballynahinch, Down, and was educated at Glasgow (MA 1812). He taught at the Belfast Academical Institute (1814-1832), being awarded LLD by Glasgow (1829). He then became prof of maths there (1832-1849), where he also served as provost. His 10 books include 4 authored 4 while teaching in Belfast, and the later An Elementary Treatise on Algebra Theoretical and Practical (1844). He had 2 notable academic sons, engineer James and William (later known as Lord Kelvin, see below). Wikipedia / MacTutor / Glasgow / Ulster Bio |
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4. Robert Park (1793-1876) was born 15 April in Stewartstown, Tyrone, and was educated at Glasgow (MA 1812). From 1817 on, his career was as an influential cleric in Ballymoney, Antrim. |
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5. James Bryce (1806-1877) was born 22 October in Killaig, Coleraine, Londonderry, and was educated at Glasgow (BA 1828, MA 1832). His career was spent teaching maths and geography at Belfast Acad Inst (1826-1840) then at the High School, Glasgow (1840-1874). His books included A Treatise on the Elements of Algebra (1837). He was also a geologist of note, and died due to a rock fall while working. He was awarded a Glasgow LLD (1868). |
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6. W. Bindon Blood (1817-1894) was born on 20 January in Cranagher, just east of Ennis, Clare, and grew up there and later in Edinburgh. He was one of the first people to receive a maths degree from TCD (BA 1838+, gold medal). He was professor of engineering at Queen’s College, Galway (1850-1860), where he also pioneered cycling in Ireland. Before and after that he worked and an engineer, in Scotland, England and Ireland, his design principles being used in the Drogheda railway bridge. In 1876, he patented the Dublin Tricycle. |
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7. Physicist, mathematician and engineer William Thomson (aka Lord Kelvin, 1824-1907) was born in Belfast (son of James above), and grew up there and in Glasgow. He was educated at Glasgow and at Cambridge (BA as 2nd wrangler 1845). After a year in Paris, his career was spent at Glasgow (1846-1907). he did pioneering work on heat, electricity and thermodynamics. His engineering insights led to the first successful transatlantic cable. Co-authored landmark book Treatise on Natural Philosophy (1867) with Peter Tait. |
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8. Edward McGuire/Maguire (1825??-1907) was one of the first two maths graduates at Queen's College Galway. He then pursued medicine (Edinburgh 1859) and spent his career as a doctor in Mayo. His angle trisection attempt from 1851 survives. |
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9. Peter Tait (1831-1901) was born in Dalkeith, Midlothian, and was educated at Cambridge (BA as senior wrangler, 1852). His career started as Prof of Maths at Queen's College Belfast (1854-1860), then he settled at Edinburgh (1860-1901). He authored 22 books. |
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10. Joseph Everett (1831-1904) was born in Ipswich, and was educated at Glasgow. His career included stints at Windsor (Nova Scotia, 1859-1864) and Glasgow (1864-1867), where he worked in Kelvin's lab. He then spent 3 decades as Prof of Natural Philosophy at Queen's Belfast (1867-1897). He wrote 4 books and contributed maths to the Educational Times. His daughter Alice also pursued maths. |
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11. George Slesser (1834-1862) was born in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, and was educated at Aberdeen, then at |
| 12. Edmund Palmer (1835-1878) was born 8 February in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, and was an early maths graduate at Queen's College Cork (BA 1855, MA 1857). He qualified at Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh (1858), and had a short career as a surgeon (Army, then Dublin). | |
| 13. Randal Nixon (1840-1901) was born in Worcester, and was educated at the Univ of London (BA 1863?) and at Cambridge (BA 1864, MA 1867). His career was spent at Brewers Company Grammar School (Aldenham, 1865?-1867), then Univ Glasgow (1867-1869) and the Royal Belfast Academv Institute (1869-1894-?). He authored 2 books, and contributed to the Educational Times. | |
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14. Fluid dynamics pioneer Osborne Reynolds (1842-1912) was born 23 August in Belfast and grew up in Dedham, Essex. He was educated at Cambridge (BA as 7th wrangler 1867), and also trained as an engineer. His career was as prof of engineerring at Owens College (Manchester, 1868-1905). Glasgow awarded him LLD (1884). |
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15. Charles Niven (1845-1923) was born 14 September in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, and was educated at Aberdeen (1863) and Cambridge (BA as senior wrangler 1867). His career was as Prof of Maths at Queen's Cork (1867-1880), then Prof of Natural Philosophy at Aberdeen (1880-1922). |
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15B. Elliot Dewar (1849-1920) was born 6 February in Glasgow, Scotland, and grew up in Belfast. He was educated at Queen's Belfast (BA 1870, MA 1872). His career was spent as inspector of schools in Ireland. Inspector / 1901 Census / 1911 Census / Grave |
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16. Engineer and mathematician John Perry (1850-1920) was born 14 Feb in Garvagh, Londonderry. He was educated at Queen's Belfast (BE & gold medal 1870, MA 1882), and his academic career included short stints in Bristol (1871-1874), Glasgow (1874-1875, with William Thomson, aka Kelvin, whom he successfully challenged on the subject of thermal conductivity), and Imperial College (Tokyo, 1875-1878) before setting down at Finsbury Technical College in 1882 and later Imperial College (1896-1913). He authored 5 books on mechanics and applied maths, including one on spinning tops. He received an honorary DSc from RUI in 1886, and an honorary LLD from Glasgow in 1901. His sister Agnes also did maths, and his nieces included pioneering early engineering graduate Alice and mathematics graduate Agnes (Molly). |
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17. Jackson Lawlor (1860-1938) was born 11 December in Ballymena, Antrim, and was educated at TCD (BA 1882, MA 1885). From 1885 on, he was a clergyman, in Dublin (1885-1893) and Edinburgh (1893-1898). He served as prof of ecclesiastical history at TCD (1898-1924) and then as dean of St Patrick's (1924-1933). In 1886 he had been mathematics examiner for the Intermediate Education Board.
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18. John McCowan (1863-1900) was born 4 February in Bridge of Allan, near Stirling, and was educated at Glasgow (BA 1883, MA 1886, DSc 1892). His career was spent at the Royal College of Science in Dublin (1884-1888), then at Dundee (1888-1900). He was an expert on fluid mechanics and the physics of surfing. He served as President of the EMS for year 1894. |
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19. Astronomer Alice Everett (1865-1949) was born 15 May in Glasgow, and brought up in Belfast, where her father was professor of natural philosophy at Queen's College. She was educated there and at Girton: sitting the Royal University of Ireland examinations earned her a BA (1887) and her Tripos performance (1889) earned her an RUI MA the same year. She worked at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich (1890-1895) and in the USA (Pottsdam 1895-1898 and Vassar 1898-1899), and much later did research back in London in optics and the engineering of early television. |
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20. James McBride (1868-1949) was born 4 December in Ballymena, Antrim, and was educated at Queen's Belfast (BSc 1889?) and Univ London (BA physics 1898). His career was spent teaching in Glasgow (Alan Glen's School 1896-1919, North Kelvinside School 1919-1925, Queen's Park School 1925-1929), and later in Dublin. |
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21. William Ahern (1871-1952) was born in 28 February in Edinburgh, and grew up in Cork. He was educated at TCD (sci scholar 1892, BA 1893, medicine 1898). His career was spent as a doctor in Dublin. |
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22. Mathematical physicist and astronomer Edmund Whittaker (1873-1956) was born 24 October in Southport, Lancashire, England. He was educated at Cambridge (BA as 2nd wrangler 1895), and after a decade on the staff there he became Astronomer Royal of Ireland and Andrews Professor of Astronomy at TCD (1906-1911). The rest of his career was spent at Edinburgh (1911-1946). He served as President of the EMS for the year 1914. His PhD students included UCD's Phil Gormley, whose contemporary Dick Timoney also studied under him in the early 1930s. NUI awarded him an honorary DSc (1939), and de Valera used his counsel while setting up the DIAS. |
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23. Archibald Mutch (1875-1918) was born 8 November in Aberdeen, and was educated there (MA 1898). He taught at Robert Gordon's College (1899-1903), Belfast Royal Acad Inst (1903-1917), and briefly at the Grammar School in Grantown-on-Spey, Moray. |
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24. William Wright (1876-1939) was born 24 September in Dublin, and was educated at TCD (BA 1900). His entire career was spent in the Geological Survey (1901-1939). He was awarded a TCD honorary DSc in 1928. 1901 Census / Page 30 / Death / Nature / Irish Nat J |
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25. Harold Thompson (1877-1916) was born 16 July in Cushendall, Antrim, and was educated at TCD (scholar, BA 1903 with gold medal). His career was spent teaching at Edinburgh Acad (1904-1910) and Charterhouse (1910-1914). 1901 Census / Bio / WWI |
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26. Alfred Edmunds (1886?-1969) was born in England and educated at TCD (maths scholar & BAI 1905). His career was spent first as a missionary at the Anglo-Chinese College, Swatow, China, moving to Edinburgh circa 1925. |
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27. Owen McKenna (aka Eóghan MacCionnaith, 1891-1967) was born 13 December in Millstreet, Cork. He was educated at UCC (BA 1912, MA 1916) and at Univ London (BSc 1919, MSc 1924). He taught in Glasgow and Belfast (1912-1920), and lectured at Belfast Municipal College of Technology (1920-1928). He then jouned the staff at UCG, where he lectured on maths and maths physics in English and Irish (1928-1961). Bio / Aimn / Grave / 1901 Census / Podcast |
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28. Theoretical physicist Robin Schlapp (1899-1991) was born 18 July in Edinburgh, and was educated there (MA 1922?) and at Cambridge (PhD 1925, one of the earliest awarded). His thesis-- --on "Waves In A Stratified Media" was done under Belfast's Joseph Larmor. His career was spent at Edinburgh (1925-1968), and he served as President of the EMS for the years 1942, 1943 and 1968. He also authored the article The Contribution of the Scots to Mathematics (1973). |
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29. Maths physicist George Keating (1902-1973) born in Dublin, and was educated at UCD (BSc 1922, MSc 1924), earning an NUI Travelling Studentship Prize. While he stutied at Edinburgh (1933-1934), his career was at UCD (1924-1972), where he also served as dept head. He had also lectured at St Pat's, Drumcondra, early on (1925-1928). |
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30. Edward West (1902-1983) was born 6 November in Midleton, Cork, and was educated at TCD (BA 1925, MA). His career was spent teaching in Scotland, at Carnoustie and Edinburgh. |
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31. Physicist Bill McCrea (1904-1999) was born 13 December in Dublin but grew up in Kent and Derbyshire in England. He was educated at Cambridge (BA 1926, PhD 1930) and Göttingen (1928-1929). His thesis on "Problems Concerning the Outer Layers of the Sun" was done under Ralph Fowler. His career started at Edinburgh (1930-1931), Imperial College (1931-1936) and QUB (1936-1943). He then moved to Royal Holloway College (1944-1966), and later Sussex (1966-1971). He discovered that the sun is largely made of hydrogen and helium. He was awarded an honorary DSc by NUI in 1954. Wikipedia / MacTutor / RSBM / ISM / Sussex / Princeton / RSE |
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32. William Guthrie (1905-1978) was born 2 September, in Cowdenbeath, Fife, and was educated at first at Edinburgh (MA 1926) and at Cambridge (BA 1929). He then lectured at St Andrews (1929-1933), while pursuing his PhD there (1933), his thesis being on "The Effects of Pressure on Gaseous Spectra with Special Reference to the Secondary Spectrum of Hydrogen". The rest of his career was at Magee College in Derry (1933-1968), where his interests were in astronomy; he also served as principal there. |
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33. Astrophysicist Hermann Brück (1905-2000) was born 15 August in Berlin, and was educated at Kiel, Bonn, and Munich (DPhil, 1928), his thesis "Über die wellenmechanische Berechnung von Gitterkräften und die Bestimmung von Ionengrößen, Kompressibilitäten und Gitterenergien bei einfachen Salzen" being done under Arnold Sommerfeld. He held positions at Potsdam and Berlin before a brief stint at the Vatican Obs (1936-1937). After a decade at Cambridge Obs (1937-1947), also lecturing at Cambridge (1943-1947), he spent another decade at Dunsink (as direcotr) and DIAS (1947-1957), during which time he married Mary Conway below. Finally, he was appointed Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Director of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, and Regius Professor of Astronomy at Edinburgh (1957-1975). He was awarded NUI Dsc (1972) & St Andrews DSc (1973). |
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34. Astronomer Mervyn Ellison (1909-1963) was born 5 May in Fethard-on-Sea, Wexford, and grew up there and later in Armagh upon his father becoming director of the observatory. He was educated at TCD (sci scholar 1930, BA 1931 with gold medal, MSc 1932). His early career was spent teaching, for a year in Armagh and then at Sherborne School in Dorset (1933-1939). followed by work for the UK admiralty, all the while being engaged in astronomical observations. TCD awarded him DSc (1944). He was appointed to the Royal Obs Edinburgh (1947-1958), and finally Dunsink & DIAS (1958-1963). He supervised 2 PhDs and authored the book The Sun and its Influence (1955).
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35. Dick Timoney (1909-1985) was born 17 May in Belleek, Fermanagh, and was educated at first at UCD (BSc 1930, MSc 1931), where he earned an NUI Travelling Studentship Prize. After a year at Edinburgh, studying with E. T. Whittaker, he returned to UCD, where he served on the staff for 47 years. 1911 Census / IMS / UCD |
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36. Philip Gormley (1910-1973) was born 22 August in Claudy, near Derry, and was educated at first at UCD (BSc 1930, MSc 1931), earning an NUI Travelling Studentship. His 1933 PhD from Edinburgh on "A Correspondence between Null and Ordinary Geodesics, its Properties, and Straneo’s Unified Theory" was done under E. T. Whittaker. He taught at UCD for 40 years, and was a keen translator of Russian mathematics. He was the official supervisor of the first maths PhD at UCD (Cormac Smith, 1954). 1911 Census / Obit / Prize |
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37. Relativist Willem van Stockum (1910-1944) was born 20 November in Hattem, eastern Holland, and grew up there and in Dublin. He was educated at first at TCD (BA & gold medal 1933), then at Toronto (MSc 1935, probably under John L. Synge) and Edinburgh (PhD 1937). His doctorate on "Axially Symmetric Gravitational Fields" was probably done under E. T. Whittaker. After a few years at the IAS (Princeton) and Univ of Maryland, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941. He became a WWII pilot casualty in 1944. |
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38. Analyst Harry Pitt (1914-2005) was born 3 June in West Bromwich, Staffs. He was educated at cambridge (BA 1935?, PhD 1938), his thesis on "General Tauberian Theorems" being done under G. H. Hardy & David Widder. His early career included stints at Aberdeen (1939-1942) and QUB (1945-1950), followed by longer spells at Nottingham and Reading. |
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39. Theoretical physicist Barry Spain (1914-2007) was born 18 November in Derry city, Londonderry. He was educated at TCD (BA 1936, MSc 1938, MA 1957) and at the University of Edinburgh (PhD 1939), his thesis on "A Nuclear Statistical Model with Applications to Stability" being done under Klaus Fuchs, a man who later passed nuclear secrets to Moscow. His career was spend at Imperial College (1945-1947), TCD (1947-1957), and Sir John Cass College (1957-1980). He wrote five books, including Tensor Calculus--A concise Course (1953) and Analytical Conics (1957). His son Philip is also a mathematician. |
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40. David Franklin (1915-1987) was born 13 January in Tuam, Galway. He was educated at UCD (BSc 1934, MSc 1935), where he was awarded an NUI Travelling Studentship, and then spent 2 years at Edinburgh (1935-1937). His entire career was at UCD (1937-1972), where he was the first prof of statistics. |
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41. Theoretical physicist Hwan Wu Peng (1915-2007) was born 5 October in Changchun, China, and was educated at National Tsinghua Univ (BSc 1936?) and Edinburgh (PhD 1940). his thesis on "Application of Quantum Theory of Electrons to the Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Metals" being done under Max Born. His career started at DIAS (1941-1947), following which he returned to acadmia in China, ultimately playing a major role in the development of the country's nuclear energy and weapons programmes. |
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42. Ernest Best (1917-2004) was born 23 May in Belfast, and was educated at QUB (BSc 1938, MSc 1939), with a master's thesis on "Some Problems in Hausdorff Measure". He then switched to theology, and had a career including terms as a minister in Northern Ireland and lectuting at St Andrews (1963-1973) and Glasgow (1974-1982). |
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43. Mathematical physicist Sheila Tinney (née Power, 1918-2010) was born 15 January in Galway, where her father Michael was professor of maths. She was educated at first at UCD (BSc 1938, MSc 1939), where she was awarded an NUI Travelling Studentship Prize. Her 1941 PhD from the University of Edinburgh on "The Stability of Crystal Lattices" was done with Max Born, making her the first Irish university educated woman to get a doctorate in mathematical science. Her career was spent at DIAS (1941-1949), where she was one of the first scholars in residence, and at UCD (1941-1978). At UCD she introduced generations of students to quantum physics, and briefly served as acting dept head of maths physics. |
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44. Modal logician George Hughes (1918-1994) was born 8 June in Waterford city, and grew up there and in Scotland. He studied philosophy at Glasgow (MA 1938?) and Cambridge, and taught at Glasgow, Cardiff, and Bangor. The rest of his career was spent at the Victoria Univ (1951-1984), in Wellington, NZ. His numerous books include A New Introduction to Modal Logic (1966), now regarded by some as setting out a mathematical theory of meaning. |
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45. Barbara Yates (1919-1998) was born in 22 January in Dublin, and grew up mostly in Belfast. She was educated at first at TCD (scholar 1940, BA 1941), then lectured at QUB (1942-1945) and at Aberdeen (1945-1948). She was on the staff at Royal Holloway (1948-1984?), earning her 1952+ Aberdeen PhD on "A Difference-Differential Equation" under Edward Wright. She was the first female Irish university graduate to get a pure maths doctorate. |
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46. Applied mathematician Andrew Young (1919-1992) was born in 16 December in Edentown, Lancashire, England. He was educated first at St Andrews (BSc 1947, following war interruption) and during 2 decades at the Univ of Liverpool his expertise in geophysics resulted in a PhD on "The Rotation of the Earth's Axis" in 1959 under Harold Jeffreys. He then joined the staff at Coleraine (1968-1983), where he worked on biomathematical approaches to population dynamics, numerical analysis and OR. He supervised over 20 doctoral students there, many of them Greek. |
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47. Murray MacBeath (1923-2014) was born 30 June in Glasgow, and grew up mostly in Belfast. He was educated at QUB (BSc 1942), Cambridge (MSc 1948) and Princeton (PhD 1950), his thesis on "The Geometry of Non-Homogeneous Lattices" being done under Emil Artin. He had done a stint at Bletchley Park (1943-1945), and was later at Keele (1951-1953), Dundee (1953-1962), and Birmingham (1962-1979). He was at Pittsburgh (1979 to at least 1983) and later back at Dundee. He supervised at least 7 PhD students. |
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48. Astronomer and and astrophysicist Mary Conway (aka Máire Ní Chonmhidhe, later Brück, 1925-2008) was born 29 May in Ballivor, Meath, and was educated at first in physics at UCD (BSc 1945, MSc 1946), earning an NUI Travelling Studentship. She went to Edinburgh (PhD 1950), her thesis on "Studies of Hα Line Profiles in Prominences" being done under Irishman Mervyn Ellison). She had actually been at Dunsink since 1947, and in 1957 moved to a position at the Royal Obs Edinburgh with husband Hermann Brück (see above) when he was appointed as director of the Royal Obs there. She also held a position at Univ Edinburgh (1972-1987). Her extensive publications include the books The Night Sky (1965), Agnes Mary Clerke and the Rise of Astrophysics (2002) and Women in Early British and Irish Astronomy: Stars and Satellites (2009). Wikipedia / Irish Times / Scotsman / ADS |
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49. A. Cormac Smith (1926-2009) was born in 29 April in Glasgow and grew up there and in Portstewart, Londonderry. He was educated entirely at UCD (BSc 1947, MSc 1948, PhD 1954). His thesis on "Generalized Quaternion Algebra of Hamilton" was the first maths doctorate awarded there. It was for research originally suggested by Phil Gormley (with input from Jean Dieudonné at Nancy), done while he was teaching at Sandyhurst College (1950-1954), after a stint at Johns Hopkins (1948-1950). This was followed by spells at Computing Devices and Univ Ottawa (at least 1957-1959), and the College of Aeronautics in Cranfield. He then returned to Canada where he was on the staff at Windsor (1963-1991), supervising at least 3 PhD students there. |
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50. Edwin Kerr (1926-2012) was born 1 July in Ballymena, Antrim, and was educated at QUB (BSc 1948, PhD 1951), his thesis on "Tauberian Theorems and Harmonic Functions" being done under Harry Pitt & Sam Verblunsky. His career included stints at QUB (1948-1952), Birminghan College of Tech (1952-1955), and Manchester College of Sci & Tech (1956-1958). He was then head of maths at the Royal College of Advance Tech Salford (1958-1966), and head of maths at Paisley College (1966-1972), following which he headed up the Council of National Academic Awards (1972-1986). Obit / THE / Math Gazette |
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51. John Williamson (1926-2006) was born in Rattray, Perthshire. He was educated at first at Edinburgh (MA 1947). He then studied at Cambridge (PhD 1952), his thesis on "Contributions to the Theory of Linear Operators" being done under Frank Smithies. His career started at QUB (1952 to at least 1958), speaking at the 1958 ICM in Edinburgh. He was on the staff at Cambridge, then was head of maths at York (1968-1980). He then moved to Herriot-Watt. He supervised at least 7 PhD students and authored many books. |
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52. Theoretical physicist Roy Chisholm (1926-2015) was born 26 November in Barnet, Herts, England, and was educated entirely at Cambridge (BA 1948, PhD 1952), his thesis on "The Calculation of S-matrix Elements and Magnetic Moments" being done under Nicholas Kemmer & Ireland's Jim Hamilton. After a few years at Glasgow (1951-1954), he moved to Cardiff (1954-1962) and then served briefly as Univ Prof of Natural Philosophy at TCD (1963-1965). Most of the rest of his career was spent at the Univ of Kent (Canterbury, 1966-1994), where he was the first prof of applied maths. |
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53. Hans Schneider (1927-2014) was born 24 January in Vienna, and grew up there and in Edinburgh. He was educated at Edinburgh (MA 1948, PhD 1952), his thesis on "Matrices with Non Negative Elements" being done under Alec Aitken. He also worked at the observatry in Edinburgh (1948-1950). His career started at QUB (1952-1959), and he spoke at the 1958 ICM in Edinburgh. He then moved to Univ Wisconsin at Madison (1959-1993), supervising 17 PhD students, including Dubliner Phil Kavanagh. |
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54. Joe Smyrl was born in Portstewart, Derry and was educated at QUB (BSc 1949?, MSc 1950, PhD 1953). His master's thesis was on "The Lebesque Integral and Relative Differentiation" and his doctoral thesis on "Some Studies in Trigonometrical Ratios" was done under Sam Verblunsky. He was at QUB (1953-1954) and at the Royal College of Science and Technology in Glasgow (later the Univ of Strathclyde) for many decades (1956-1990?). He authored the text An Introduction to University Mathematics (1978). |
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55. Iain Adamson (1928-2010) was born 17 June in Dundee, and was educated St Andrews (BSc 1949) and Princeton (PhD 1952). his thesis on "The Cohomology Structure of Formations" was done under Emil Artin. His career was at QUB (1952-1960) and Dundee (1966-1993?). He wrote several notable textbooks. He served as President of the EMS for year 1983. |
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56. Theoretical physicist Dick Carson (1930-2019) was born 7 October on Inishmore Island, Upper Lough Erne, Fermanagh. He was educated at QUB (BSc 1952, PhD 1955). His thesis on "A Quantal Study Relating to Some of the Simpler Molecule" was done under David Bates. His career was at Glasgow (1955-1956), AWRE Aldermaston (1956-1960), and St Andrews (1960-1996). He supervised 10 PhD students in astronomy and astrophysics. |
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57. Lawrence Crane (1931-2021) was born 11 July in Neilston, near Glasgow, and was educated at Glasgow (BA 1954, PhD 1959). His thesis on "Properties of Jets and Jet-like Flows" was done under Donald Pack at Strathclyde. His career was at DIAS (1954-1955), Strathclyde (1955-1961) , TCD (1961-2001) and then at the Inst for Numerical Computation & Analysis. He supervised 10 doctorates. He co-authored the book Physical Fluid Dynamics (1973). Glasgow awarded him DSc 1976. |
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58. Arthur Sands (1931-2020) was born 7 October in Belfast, and was educated at QUB (BSc 1954, MSc by thesis 1955) and at Glasgow (PhD 1958). His master's thesis on "Radicals in an Arbitrary Ring" was done under Iain Adamson, and his doctoral thesis on "The Factorization of Finite Abelian Groups" was done under Robert Rankin. His career was spent at Dundee, where he supervised 3 PhD students and co-authored the book Factoring Groups into Subsets (2008). He served as President of the EMS for year 1977. |
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59. Dermot McLain (1932-2004) was born 25 March in Coleraine, Londonderry, and was educated at QUB (BSc 1952) and Cambridge (PhD 1956). His thesis on "A Class of Locally Nilpotent Groups" was done under Philip Hall. His career was spent at Glasgow 1956-1960?), Cardiff (1960s), and at Sheffield (1971-1988), where he was director of CS services. That last institution awarded him an honorary DSc upon his retirement in 1998. He published on curve fitting as well as group theory. and McLain groups are named after him. |
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60. Theoretical physicist Jim Boyd was born 21 June in Larne, Antrim, and grew up there and a few miles north in Sliabhbán, Glenarm. He was educated entirely at QUB (BSc 1953, BA 1954, PhD 1957), his thesis on "The Landau-Zener Approximation in Atomic Collision Theory" being done under David Bates. After spells at Birmingham, Gen Dynamics (San Diego), Univ Maryland (College Park), UKAEA (Culham Lab), and St Andrews (1965-1968), he settled at Bangor (1968-1990), where he pioneered the use of computers in teaching applied maths, and developed plasma simulation codes. He then spent 2 decades at Essex (1990-2009), followed by research at ININ (Mexico). His interests include nonlinear plasma wave interactions, plasma radiation, ultra-relativistic laser-plasma interactions, and particle-in-cell and finite-element codes for plasmas. He has supervised over 25 doctoral students and has 7 books to his name. |
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61. David Simms (1933-2018) was born 13 January in Sankeshwar, Karnataka, India, and grew up there and in Dublin. He was educated at TCD (scholar 1952, BA 1955, MA 1958) and at Cambridge (PhD 1960). His thesis on "The Spectral Sequence of a Pair of Coverings, and Related Cohomology Groups" was done with William Hodge. He started his career at Glasgow (1958-1964), and then spent 4 decades at TCD, where he also served as head of school. His research interests included differential geometry and geometric quantisation. He authored 2 books. |
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62. Theoretical physicist Allan Solomon (1936-2013) born 11 December in Glasgow, and grew up Belfast. He was educated at TCD (BA 1958), Cambridge and the Sorbonne (PhD, 1963). His thesis on "On the Masses of the Elementary Particles" was done under Maurice Levy & Louis Michel. His career started in industry (1963-1966), followed by stints at NYU Polytech Brooklyn (1966-1968), Tel Aviv Univ (1968-1969), and DIAS (1969-1971). He was then at The Open University for decades (1971-2002), after which he returned to the Sorbonne. He supervised at least 4 doctoral students and edited 3 books, including a Festschrift for Prof Joseph L. Birman. |
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63. Physicist Brian Henderson (1936-2017) was born 26 March near Doncaster, and was educated at Birmingham (BSc 1958, PhD 1960). His career was spent at AERE (Harwell, 1962-1968), Keele (1968-1974), TCD (1974-1984), Strathclyde (1984-1997) and finally at the Cavendish Lab (1997 on). He authored 4 books, and supervised 30 PhD students. |
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64. Trevor West (1938-2012) was born 8 May in Midleton, Cork. He was educated at TCD (scholar 1958, BA 1960) and Cambridge (PhD 1963), his thesis on "Riesz and Fredholm Theory in Banach Algebras" being done under Frank Smithies. His career started at Glasgow (1963-1965) and UCLA (1965-1966), then he returned to TCD (1966-2006), where he worked in functional analysis. He supervised 3 PhD students. He served several terms on Seanad Éireann, and wrote numerous books on diverse subjects, including Locally Compact Semi-Algebras (1974). |
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65. Maths physicist John Kennedy (1939-1995) was born 28 March in Belfast, and was educated at first at UCD (BSc 1959, MSc 1960), where he earned an NUI Travelling Studentship. His 1964 Univ London PhD on "The Application of Dispersion Relations to the Photo-Production of Pions on Nucleons" was done under Ireland's Jim Hamilton. His career started at Glasgow (1964-1967), following which he returned to UCD, where he supervised 4 PhDs. |
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66. Applied mathematician Cecil Graham (1939-2003) was born 25 February in Wells, near Kilmuckridge, Wexford, and was educated at first at TCD (scholar 1960, BA 1961). Following a stint at Brown (MSc 1963+) he moved to Glasgow (PhD 1966), his thesis on "Contact Problems in the Linear Theory of Viscoelasticity" being done under Ian Sneddon. His career started at Glasgow (1963-1966) and North Carolina State (1966-1967), following which he settled at Simon Fraser in Canada (1967-2003), where he also served as dept head. He supervised 5 PhD students and authored 3 books. He also spent time at DIAS (1974-1975, 1986-1987, 1988-1989). He was very active in the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society. |
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67. Physicist Aodhagán Roddy (1941-2011) was born 15 February in Longford town, and grew up south of there in Ballymahon. He was educated at UCG (BSc 1962, MSc in physics 1963), and at Edinburgh (PhD 1967). His theses on "The Formation of Condensation Nuclei in City Air, by Ultraviolet Radiation of Wavelength Greater Than 2900A" was done under G. R. Evans. Following a few years at Colodaro State, he returned to spend the rest of his career at Galway (1969-2006), where he supervised several PhD students. He was a founding members of the Irish Meteorological Society in 1981, and served as its President for many years. |
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68. Statistician Denis Conniffe (1942-2011) was born in Dublin, and was educated at Aberdeen and at UCD (BSc 1962, MSc 1963), and later at TCD (PhD 1974). His thesis on "The Design and Analysis of Grazing Experiments" was done under Gordon Foster. His career was at the Agricultural Research Institute (1964-1980), and the ESRI (1980-2004), following which he lectured in economics at Maynooth (2004-2008) and UCD (2008-2011). |
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69. John Hickey was born in Naas, Kildare, and educated at first at UCD (BSc 1962, MSc 1963), where he earned an NUI Travelling Studentship. His 1970 Glasgow PhD on "Bisimple Inverse Semigroups and Uniform Semilattices" was done under Walter Munn. Most of his career was spent at Glasgow. |
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70. Statistician Iggy Ó Muircheartaigh was born in Dublin, and was educated at first at UCD (BSc 1963, MSc 1964). He worked at the CSO (1963-1966), and then studied at Glasgow (PhD 1970). His thesis on "Discrimination and Diagnosis" was done under John Aitchison. His career was spent at Galway (1970-2008), also serving as the college president. He still researches stats applications to human rights, economics, and medicine. |
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71. Maths physicist Tigran Tchrakian was born in London, and was educated at Imperial (BSc 1963) and Edinburgh (PhD 1967). His thesis on "Applications of Covariant Scattering Theory" was done under Nicholas Kemmer & David Candlin, 1967). His career started at Westfield College (1967-1970) and Sussex (1970-1971), then he settled at Maynooth (1971-2008). He has also had a long association with DIAS, and has supervised 4 PhDs. |
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72. Ron McCartney was born 24 April in Belfast, and grew up in Lisburn. He was educated at QUB (BSc 1964) and Exeter (PhD 1967+). His thesis on "Nets on Restricted Directed Sets: Countable Compactifications" was done under David Smith. His career included stints at Southampton (1967-1968), Glasgow (1968-1973), Toronto (1973-1974), Coleraine (1974-1977), Coleraine Acad Inst (1977-1979), Northern Ireland Centre for Educational Research (1979-1984), and a over 2 decades at The Open University (1984-2007). He later taught at the Forman Christian College in Lahore, Pakistan (2008-2015). In 2021, he puibished a series of books on general topology. |
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73. Computational physicist Denis Weaire was born 17 October in Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh, India, and grew up Belfast. He was educated at Cambridge (BA 1964, PhD 1968). His thesis on "Pseudopotential Theory of the Structure of Metals" was done under Volker Heine. His career started at Harvard (1969-1970), Yale (1970-1974), and Heriot-Watt (1974-1979), before returning to Ireland, first at UCD (1980-1984). He was appointed as Erasmus Smith Prof of Natural & Experimental Philosophy at TCD (1984-2007), also serving as dept head and later dean. He has supervised a dozen doctoral students, and has 9 books to his name. He is best known for the Weaire/Phelan structure (1993) which improved on the Kelvin structure (1887), which had long been presumed to be the most efficient (minimal surface area) tiling of space with equal volume cells. |
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74. Alastair Wood was born in Edinburgh and grew up Dundee. He was educated at St Andrews (BSc 1964, PhD 1968), his thesis on "Asymptotic Methods for the Determination of Deficiency Indices of Fourth Order Differential Operators" being done under Norrie Everitt. His career was spent at Manchester (1967-1970), Cranfield (1970-1982) and DCU (originally NIHE Dublin, 1982-2003). He supervised 9 PhD students and co-authored the book George Gabriel Stokes: Life, Science and Faith (Oxford, 2019) with Mark McCartney & Andrew Whitaker. |
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75. Theoretical physicist Michael Jamieson was born 31 July in Belfast, and was educated at QUB (BSc 1965, PhD 1969) and Harvard. His thesis on "Time-dependent Hartree-Fock Theory" was done under Alex Dalgarno, who had moved from QUB to Harvard in 1967. After stints at Harvard (1968-1970), Cambridge (1970-1971) and Exeter (1971-1973), he settled at Glasgow (1973-2006). |
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76. J. Murrough Golden was born 3 June in Dublin and was educated at UCD (BSc 1965, Msc 1966) and at Edinburgh (PhD 1970). His thesis on "Bethe-Salpeter Equations and the Quark Model" was done with Peter Higgs. His career was spent at DIAS (1970-1971), UCD {CS} (1971-1973), Kevin St (1973-1974), An Foras Forbartha (1974-1989), Environmental Research Unit (1989-1994), and at Kevin St again (1995-2010), where he served as head. He co-authored the books Boundary Value Problems in Linear Viscoelasticity (Springer, 1988) and Thermodynamics of Materials with Memory: Theory and Applications (Springer, 2012). |
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77. Gerry Shannon (1944-2010) was born in Glasgow, and grew up there and in Cardiff. He was educated at Bangor (BSc 1965, postgrad research) and taught for many decades at UU Coleraine (1968-2008). He published on linear operators. Morris dancing / Papers / Paper |
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78. Philip Spain was born in Dublin and educated at Cambridge (BA 1965) and Glasgow (MA 1969, PhD 1971), his thesis on "Weak Compactness in Operator Algebras" being done under Henry Dowson. His whole career was spent at Glasgow (1967-2006). |
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79. Astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell was born 15 July in Lurgan, Armagh, and was educated at Glasgow (BA 1965) and |
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79B. Liam O’Carroll (1945-2017) was born 10 June in Strabane, Tyrone, and was educated at QUB (BSc 1966, MSc 1967, PhD 1970). Both his masters thesis on "Congruence Relations on Abstract Semigroups" and his doctoral thesis on "Contributions to the Theory of Partially Ordered Groupoids and Semigroups" were done under Bob McFadden. He spent 4 decades at Edinburgh, supervising 4 doctorates there. His work was in commutative algebra, in particular uniform Artin–Rees theorems. |
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80. Sean McKee was born 1 July in Belfast, and grew up in Edinburgh. He was educated at St Andrews (BSc 1967) and Dundee (PhD 1970). His thesis on "Alternating Direction Methods for Partial Differential Equations with Mixed Derivatives" was done under Andrew Mitchell. Career Dundee (1970-1972), Southampton (1972-1975), Oxford (1975-1986) and Strathclyde since then. He has supervised 25 doctorates in applied and industrial mathematics. His recent interests include modelling drug delivery. |
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81. Michael Ganly (1947-2012) was born in Dublin, and was educated at TCD (BA 1969) and Edinburgh (PhD 1973). His thesis on "The Norm Properties of the Restrictions of a Compact Operator" was done under Thomas Gillespie & Connor Alexander. His career was in IT. |
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82. Gordon Lessells born Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, educated at Aberdeen (MA 1970) and Oxford (MSc 1971). His career started at Glasgow (1973-1974), Benin (1975-1980) , and UCC (1980-1981). He then moved to NIHE Limerick, later known as he Univ of Limerick (1981-2015). He has long been active in the Irish Maths Olympiad. |
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83. Algebraist Rod Gow was born 4 June in Glasgow, and grew up in York. He was educated at Cambridge (BA 1969( and Liverpool (PhD, 1973). His thesis on "" was done under John Humphreys. His career started at Carleton Univ (1973-1975) and TCD (1977-1978), then he settled at UCD (1978-2013). He supervised 5 PhD students. His primary interests have been in group representation theory, linear algebra and field theory. He is also a noted expert on the history of 19th century mathematics. UCD / Google Scholar |
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84. Statistician Fintan Hurley was born in February in Upton, Cork, and was educated at first at UCC (MA 1970, MA 1971), where he earned an NUI Travelling Studentship. He then studied with David Finney at Edinburgh. His career was spent as an epidemiologist in Scotland, mostly at the Inst for Occupational Medicine. |
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85. Jerome Moloney was born in Clonakilty, Cork, and was educated in chemistry at UCC (BSc 1970) and Western Ontario (PhD 1977). His career was spent at Bielefeld (1977-1979), Univ Arizona {OPTICS} (1979-1984), and Heriot-Watt (1984-1990). Since then he has been back at Univ Arizona, where he is prof of maths & optical sciences |
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86. Applied mathematician George Gettinby (1949-2014) born in Larne, Antrim, and was educated at QUB (BSc 1971) and at Coleraine (DPhil 1974). His thesis on "Mathematical Models for the Control of Liver Fluke Infection" was done under Andrew Young. His career was spent at Strathclyde, where he supervised at least 6 PhDa students, and co-authored 2 books on stats in bio-sciences. |
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87. Applied mathematician John Adam was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, and grew up in Reading. He was educated at Queen Eliz College, London (BSc 1971) and Univ College London (PhD 1974). His thesis on "A Theoretical Study of Magnetohydrodynamic Processes in Solar Active Regions" was done under Gillian Peach & Carole Jordan. After stints at Sussex (1974-1976) and St Andrews (1976-1978) he spent 1978-1983 at Coleraine, also briefly being a scholar at DIAS (1978-1979). Since 1984 he has been at Dominion Univ in Norfolk, Virginia. He has written several books.
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88. Algebraist Colin Walter was born in Glasgow, and was educated at Edinburgh (BSc 1972) and Cambridge (PhD 1976). His thesis on "Class Number Relations in Algebraic Number Fields" was done under J.W.S. Cassels. His career started at UCD (1977-1984), followed by many years at Manchester (1984-2002). After a spell in industry, he finished at Royal Holloway (2009-2015). |
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89. Ivan Graham was born in Portadown, Armagh, and grew up in Derrykeevan near The Birches. He was educated at Edinburgh (MSc 1975) and the Univ of New South Wales (PhD 1980). His PhD on "The Numerical Solution of Fredholm Integral Equations of the Second Kind" was done under Ian Sloan & Will Smith. After a few years at Sydney and Melbourne, in 1985 he settled at Bath. He has supervised 16 PhDs and co-edoted 2 books. |
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90. Tony Elliott-Kelly born in Athlone, Westmeath, and was at educated at Maynooth (BSc 1978), Heriot-Watt (MSc 1988) and Hull (PhD, 1996). Most of his career has been spent at Southampton. |
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90. Theoretical physicist Brian Dolan was born in Glasgow, and raised in Ardrosson, Ayrshire. He was educated at Edinburgh (BSc 1978) and Durham (PhD, 1981). His thesis on "Yang-Mills Theories in Curved Space-Times" was done under David Farlie. His career started as a hospital physicist in Glasgow, followed by a stint at Univ Glasgow (1983-1986). Since then he has been at Maynooth & DIAS. He has supervised 4 PhD students. |
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91. Astronomer Simon Jeffery born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and grew up in Edinburgh. He was educated at |
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92. Anthony Small was born 15 October in London, to Irish parents, and was educated at Warwick (BSc 1980, PhD 1988), his thesis on "A Twistorial Interpretation of the Weierstrass Representation Formulae" being done under James Eells & John Rawnsley. Following stints at Aberystwyth (1986-1988), MPI (Bonn, 1989-1991), Dundee (1991-1993) and ICTP Trieste (1993-1995), he settled at Maynooth in 1995. His interests include minimal surfaces, CMC surfaces, monopoles, and projective structures on Riemann surfaces. |
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93. Donal T. Hurley was born 17 July in Waterford city and grew up there and in Dublin. He was educated at UCD (BSc 1981, MSc 1982), doing research under Michael Hayes. His career was in secondary teaching, mostly in the UK. He taught for many years (2003-2020) in Clackmannanshire, east of Stirling. |
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93B. Terry Maguire was born 4 February in Passage West, Cork, and was educated at first at UCC (BSc in science 1981, MSc 1984). After working in higher education in Scotland (1985-2000), she did her doctorate (Univ Limerick, 2003) on "Engendering Numeracy in Adults Mathematics Education with a Focus on Tutors: A Grounded Approach" under John O'Donoghue. She served at the director of lifelong learning at IT Tallagh (2006-2013), and earned a BA in maths via the Open Univ (2014). She founded Maths Eyes and served until recently as the director the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. |
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94. Engineer John Halley was born in Dublin and grew up in Killotteran, Butlerstown, Waterford. He was educated in electrical engineering at UCD (BE 1983), Univ London (ME 1985, PhD 1989). His thesis on "Thermal and Power Dissipation Considerations in Nonlinear Optical Logic Devices" was done under John Midwinter. His career started at Imperial (1990-1995) and St Andrews (1996-1999). Since then he has been involved in mathematical ecology in Greece, at Aristotle Univ Thessaloniki and then at Univ Ioannina. |
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95. Theoretical physicist Des Johnston was born in east Belfast, Down, and was educated at Cambridge (BA 1983) and Imperial (PhD 1986). His PhD on "Gauge Properties and Convexity of the Effective Potential" was done under Hugh Jones. His career started at LPT Univ Paris XI (1986-1987), Caltech (1987-1989), FU Berlin (1989) and Lancaster (1990). Since then, he has been at Heriot-Watt, where he has supervised 2 PhD students. |
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96. Actuary Shane Whelan was born in Dublin and was educated at first at UCD (BSc 1985). After a decade in finance he did a PhD at Heriot-Watt (2003), his thesis on "Actuarial Investigations In Irish Capital Markets" being done under Stan Zachary. Since then he had lectured in UCD. |
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97. Stephen Gilmore was born in Carrigfergus, Antrim, and was educated at QUB (BSc 1986, PhD 1990), his thesis on "Correctness-Oriented Approaches to Software Development" being done under Maurice Clint. His career has been spent at Edinburgh, where he has supervised 11 PhD students. |
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98. Paul MacManus was born in Galway city, and was educated at first at UCG (BSc 1986, MSc 1987), earning an NUI Travelling Studentship Prize. His 1992 PhD on "Quasiconformal Mappings and Ahlfors-David Curves" was done at Yale under Peter Jones. His career included stints with the NSF (1992-1995), UT Austin, Edinburgh and Maynooth (1998?-2000), and Exeter Academy, before switching to finance in 2007.
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99. Graham Horgan earned his 1990 PhD on "Estimating the Distribution of Edge Directions in a Digital Image" at TCD under John Haslett. His career included a period at BioSS, U Aberdeen. |
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100. Gwyneth Mulholland was born in Portstewart, Londonderry, and was educated at St Andrews (BA in Stats & Econ 1986). Her 1993 DPhil on "Wage Formation and Productivity Growth in the Regions of the UK 1968-87" was done at UU Jordanstown, where she subsequently taught 1998-2016. |
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101. Theoretical physicist Jon-Ivar Skullerud was born in Oslo, Norway, and was educated at Trondheim (MSc 1992) and Edinburgh (PhD 1996). His doctoral thesis on "Renormalisation in Lattice QCD" was done under Brian Pendleton. His career started at Adelaide (1996-1999), Hamburg (1999-2001), and Amsterdam (2001-2003), before moving to Ireland. After a stint at TCD (2003-2007) he settled at Maynooth, where he has supervised 3 PhD students. |
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102. Mike Peardon was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, and was educated at Cambridge (BA, MA) and Edinburgh (PhD 1995). His thesis on "A Study of Improved Monte-Carlo Methods for Lattice Gauge Theories" was done under Ken Bowler and Brian Pendleton. His career has been spent at Univ Kentucky (1995-1997), Forschungszentrum Juelich (1997-1999), Univ of California at San Diego (1999-2000), and then at TCD. He has supervised 6 PhDs and co-authored the book Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (Springer, 2017). |
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103. Biostatistician Johnnie Newell was born in Galway, and was educated at NUIG (BSc 1990, MSc 1992) and Glasgow (PhD 1999). His thesis on "Practical Methods for Analysing Dependent Survival Data" was done under Tom Aitchison. His career so far has been at NUIG. He has supervised 7 PhDs, and co-authored book Statistics for Sports and Exercise Science: A Practical Approach (2010). His father Martin and grandfather Martin (1910-1985) also had careers in maths at Galway. |
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104. Statistician John J. McDermott was born 2 July in Galway city, and was educated at NUI Galway (BSc 1990, MSc in stats 1992) and Bath (PhD, 1997). His thesis on "Practical Methods for Analysing Dependent Survival Data" was done under Tom Aitchison. His career so far has been at St Andrews (1999-2016) and Dundee (2017- ). His father John P. also had a career in maths at Galway. |
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105. Götz Pfeiffer was born 17 March in Siegen, Germany, and was educated at Aachen (BSc 1991, PhD 1995), his thesis on "Charakterwerte von Iwahori-Hecke-Algebren von klassischem Typ" being done under Herbert Pahlings. His career started at St Andrews (1995-1996), and since 1997 he was been at Galway. He has supervised 3 PhDs. |
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106. Paul Wilson was born in London and grew up there and in Galway. He was educated at UCG/NUIG (BA 1992, MA 1993, PhD 2008), his thesis on "Variations of Cox-Type Tests and their Application to Models for Count Data With Modified Zeros" being done under John Hinde. His career has been at NUIG (2008-2011), St Andrews (2011-2012), and since then at Wolverhampton. |
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107. Theoretical physicist Sinéad Ryan from Midleton Cork was educated at UCC (BSc 1992, MSc 1993) and Edinburgh (PhD 1996), her thesis on "Light Hadron Spectroscopy and Soft Coherent Gauges in Lattice QCD" being done under Richard Kenway. her career started at the Fermi Lab (1996-1999), and since then she had been at TCD. She has supervised 5 PhDs, and served as head of school. |
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108. Brendan Owens was born in Kitwe, Zambi, and grew up mostly in Skerries, Dublin. He was educated at TCD (BA 1993) and and Columbia (PhD 2000). His thesis on "Instantons on Cylindrical Manifolds and Stable Bundles" was done under John Morgan. His entire career has been at Glasgow, where he has supervised 3 PhDs. His main interests are in low-dimensional topology. |
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109. Mary Cryan was born in Dublin and educated at UCD (BSc in CS & maths 1993, MSc in CS by thesis on " A theorem prover for Property Theory" with Allan Ramsay 1995) and Warwick (PhD 1999). Her doctoral thesis on "Learning and Approximation Algorithms for problems motivated by Evolutionary Trees" was done with Leslie Goldberg at Warwick. After a few years at Aarhus (1999-2001) and Leeds (2001-2003), she settled at Edinburgh, where she now researches randomized algorithms. She has supervised 2 PhD students. |
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110. Statistician Niall Friel was born in Ballymote, Sligo, and was educated at first at Galway (BSc 1995, MSc 1996), where he earned an NUI Travelling Studentship Prize. His 1999 PhD on "Application of Random Sets to Image Analysis" was done at Glasgow under Ilya Molchanov. After brief stints at Queensland Univ of Tech, Cambridge & Athens, he spent 5 years as Glasgow (2002-2007). Since then he has been at UCD where he is now prof of stats. He has supervised 10 PhD students. |
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111. Conrad Hughes was born in Dublin and was educated at TCD (BA 1996). After working in IT for many years, from 2003 to at least 2006 he was a research fellow at Edinburgh. |
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112. Theorerical physicist Joost Slingerland was born in Holland and was educated at Utrecht (MSc 1998) and Amsterdam (PhD 2002), his thesis on "Hopf Symmetry and its Breaking: Braid Statistics and Confinement in Planar Physics" being done under Ferdinand Bais. His career started at Heriot-Watt (2002-2004), Microsoft (2004-2006), and UC Riverside & Caltech (2006-2007), before moving to Ireland. He has been at DIAS (2007-2009) and since 2008 at Maynooth. |
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113. Mark Dukes was born in Dublin and educated at Oxford (MA 1997) and DIAS (PhD awarded by TCD 2000+). His thesis on "Counting and Probability in Matroid Theory" was done under John Lewis. His career has been at DIAS (2000-2003), Rome (2003-2004), Bordeaux (2004-2005), UCD (2005-2007), Univ Iceland (2007-2011) and Strathclyde (2011-2016). Since 2016, he has been at UCD. UCD |
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114. Sejong Park was born in Korea, and was educated Seoul National Univ (BSc 1998, MSc 2002) and Aberdeen (PhD 2008). His thesis on "The Weighted Fusion Category Algebra" being done under Markus Linckelmann. His career included Aberdeen (2009-2011), Sogagng Univ (2011), École Poly Féd Lausanne (2011-2013), NUIG (2013-2016) and Southampton (2016-2017). Since 2018, he has worked in data science in Holland. |
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115. Thomas Waters was born in Dubin and educated at DCU (BSc 1999, PhD 2005+), his thesis on "Stability of Naked Singularities in Self-Similar Collapse" being donen under Brien Nolan. His career has been at Strathclyde (2005-2007), NUIG (2007-2010) and then Portsmouth. His current interests are in geodesics in surfaces and manifolds. |
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116. Statistician Breedette Hayes was born in Mallow, Cork, and was educated at UCD (BSc 1999?, MSc 2002?) and at TCD (PhD 2005). Her thesis on "Improving Exploration of Posterior Distributions in Spatial Models - A Markov Chain Monte Carlo Approach" was done under Simon Wilson. Her career started in Edinburgh (2004-2005), then AXA Insurance (2005-2011). Since 2012, she has been at Barclaycard (NY). |
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117. Theoretical physicist Dónal O'Connell was born Dublin, and was educated TCD (BA 2000, MA 2001) and at Caltech |
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118. Spyridon Dendrinos was born in Greece, and was educated at Cambridge (BA 2000, MA 2001) and at Edinburgh (PhD 2005), his thesis on "Generalisations of an Inequality of Hardy under Polynomial Changes of Variables" being done under James Wright. His career included stops at Pisa (2005-2006), Erwin Schrödinger Inst (2006), Bristol (2007-2009), Glasgow (2010), Jyvaskyla (2010-2012), Helsinki (2012), and Kiel (2013). Since 2014, he has been at UCC. |
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119. Statistician Nema Dean was born in Dublin, and was educated TCD (MA 2002) and at the Univ Washington (PhD 2006). Her thesis on "Variable Selection and Other Extensions of the Mixture Model Clustering Framework" was done under Dubliner Adrian Raftery. Her career so far has been at Glasgow. |
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120. Aidan Naughton was born in Ballyhaunis, Mayo and educated at NUIG (BSc 2002) and then at UCC, where his 2006 PhD on "A priori Bounds on Derivatives of Solutions to Singularly Perturbed Convection-Diffusion Problems" was earned with Martin Stynes. His career so far has been spent at St Andrews, where he is now doing research in mathematical education. |
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121. Statistician Jacquie Kirrane from Kilrush, Clare, was educated at Limerick (BSc 2002) and at UCC (MSc stats 2003, PhD 2009), her thesis on "Statistical Identification of Blood Signals from Dynamic PET Data" being done under Finbarr O'Sullivan. Her career started at St Andrews (2009-2011), then she returned to Ireland to work for Eircom (2011-2014). She is now a research and analytics manager at Revenue, Irish Tax and Customs. |
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122. Nina Snigireva was born in December in Moscow, and grew up Galway. She was educated at Galway (BSc 2004?) and at St Andrews (PhD 2008), her thesis on "Inhomogeneous Self-similar Sets and Measures" being done under Lars Olsen. After some postdocs at UCD, the Australian National Univ and Galway, she is now lecturing at UCD. She works in fractal geometry and functional analysis. |
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123. David Quinn born in Ballinasloe, Galway, and grew up closeby near Ballyleague, Roscommon. He was educated at Galway (BSc 2005, PhD, 2009+), his thesis on "Three Problems in Algebraic Combinatorics" being done under Emil Sköldberg. After a year at QUB (2010-2011), his career has been at Aberdeen (2012-2015) and then Edinburgh. |
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124. Jennifer Courtney (later Cassidy) was born in Dublin and was educated in DCU (BEng 2006), at Birmigham (MSc meteorlogy 2008) and UCD (PhD 2013), her thesis on "High-resolution Probabilistic Wind Speed Forecasting for Wind Energy Applications" being done under Peter Lynch. Her career has been with the RES Group on Glasgow (2013-2016) and now the Utility Regulator in Belfast. |
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125. Barry Devlin was educated at TCD (Scholar & BA 2009), Cambridge (MA 2011) and Edinburgh (PhD 2015), his thesis on "Codensity, Compactness and Ultrafilters" being done with Tom Leinster. His career has been in IT. |
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126. Cathal Cummins was born 4 November in Dublin, and was educated at UCD (BSc 2009) and Limerick (MSc 2011, PhD 2014), his thesis on "The Effect of Contact Lines on the Dynamics of Drops and Liquid Bridges" being done under Eugene Benilov. His career has been at UCD (2015), Edinburgh (2016-2019), and now Heriot-Watt. |
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127. Theoretical physicist Kyle Ballantine was born in Ballymoney, Antrim, and grew up Ballyneety, Limerick. He was educated at TCD (BA 2010, PhD 2015+), his thesis on "Photons in Restricted Topologies" being done with John Donegan. After a stint at St Andrews (2015-2018), he is now at Lancaster. |
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128. David McConnell was born in Dublin and was educated at TCD (BA 2010, PhD 2014+), his thesis on "Co(X)-structure in C*-algebras, Multiplier Algebras and Tensor Products" being done with Richard Timoney. After stints at Glasgow (2014-2016 ) and Cardiff (2016-2018), he switched gears and now works as a statistician at the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics in Dublin. |
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129. Theoretical physicist Sam Palmer was educated at TCD (BA 2010), at Cambridge, and at Heriot-Watt (PhD 2014), his thesis on string theory being done under Christian Sämann. His career so far has been spent at Dundee (2014-2017), then Heriot-Watt (Malaysia). He is now at Oxford, combining bioinformatics and mathematical modeling to research thymus regeneration. |
