Frank Morley
Frank Morley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 9, 1860 |
| Died | October 17, 1937 (aged 77) |
| Nationality | English |
| Alma mater | King's College, Cambridge |
| Known for | Morley's trisector theorem |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Haverford College Johns Hopkins University |
| Doctoral students | Harry Bateman Leonard Blumenthal Arthur Coble Francis Murnaghan Boyd Patterson |
Frank Morley (September 9, 1860 – October 17, 1937) was a leading mathematician, known mostly for his teaching and research in the fields of algebra and geometry. Among his mathematical accomplishments was the discovery and proof of the celebrated Morley's trisector theorem in elementary plane geometry. He led 50 Ph.D.'s to their degrees, and was said to be:
- "...one of the more striking figures of the relatively small group of men who initiated that development which, within his own lifetime, brought Mathematics in America from a minor position to its present place in the sun."[1]
Life
Morley was born in the town of Woodbridge in Suffolk, England. His parents were Elizabeth Muskett and Joseph Roberts Morley, Quakers who ran a china shop. After being educated at Woodbridge School, Morley went on to King's College, Cambridge (B.A., 1884).[2]
In 1887 Morley moved to Pennsylvania. He taught at Haverford College until 1900, when he became chairman of the mathematics department at Johns Hopkins University. His publications include Elementary Treatise on the Theory of Functions (1893), with James Harkness; and Introduction to the Theory of Analytic Functions (1898). He was President of the American Mathematical Society from 1919 to 1920 and was the editor of the American Journal of Mathematics from 1900 to 1921.
In 1933 he and his son Frank Vigor published the "stimulating volume", Inversive Geometry.[3][4] The book develops complex numbers as a tool for geometry and function theory. Some non-standard terminology is used such as "base-circle" for unit circle and "turn" for a point on it.
He was a strong chess player and once beat world champion Emanuel Lasker in a game of chess.
He died in Baltimore, Maryland at age 77.
His sons are novelist Christopher Morley, Pulitzer Prize winner Felix Morley, and another mathematician, Frank Vigor Morley.
Works
- 1893: (with James Harkness) A treatise on the theory of functions (New York: Macmillan)
- 1898: (with James Harkness) Introduction To The Theory of Analytic Functions (G.E.Stechert And Company)
- 1919: On the Lüroth Quartic Curve
- 1933: (with son Frank Victor) Inversive Geometry, Ginn & Co., now available from HathiTrust
See also
References
- ^ Arthur B. Coble, Frank Morley—In memoriam, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, 44, (1938), pp. 167–170.
- ^ "Morley, Frank (MRLY879F)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Snyder, Virgil (1934). "Review: Frank Morely and F. V. Morley, Inversive Geometry". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 40 (5): 374–375. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1934-05848-8.
- ^ Henry Forder (1934) Review:Inversive Geometry, The Mathematical Gazette 18:127–9
- R.C. Archibald, A Semicentennial History of the American Mathematical Society (1888–1938), Chapter 15: The Presidents: #15 Morley 1919–20. pp. 194–201, includes bibliography of Morley's papers.
External links
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Frank Morley", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- Frank Morley at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Clark Kimberling: Frank Morley (1860–1937) geometer.
| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- 1860 births
- 1937 deaths
- 19th-century British mathematicians
- 19th-century American mathematicians
- 20th-century American mathematicians
- British expatriates in the United States
- Geometers
- Johns Hopkins University faculty
- Haverford College faculty
- Presidents of the American Mathematical Society
- Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
- People educated at Woodbridge School
- People from Woodbridge, Suffolk