The Donegall Lecturership at Trinity College Dublin is one of two endowed mathematics positions at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the other being the Erasmus Smith's Chair of Mathematics. The Donegall (sometimes spelt Donegal) Lectureship was endowed in 1668 by the 3rd Earl of Donegall.The Dublin University Calendar 1877 Mathematics at TCD: The eighteenth century 400 years of mathematics by T. D. Spearman In 1675, after the restoration, it was combined with the previous public Professor in Mathematics position that had been created in 1652 by the Commonwealth parliament.
For much of its history, the Donegall Lectureship was awarded to a mathematician as an additional honour which came with a supplementary income.Obituary of Timothy Gayleard Murphy Irish Math. Society Bulletin, No 82, Winter 2018, pp. 4–10 Since 1967, the lectureship has been awarded to a leading international scientist who visits the Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics and gives talks, including a public lecture called the Donegall Lecture.
List of Donegall Lecturers Permanent Donegall lecturers (before 1967)
1675–1685: Miles Symner (1610?–1686) 1685–1692: St. George Ashe (1657–1718) 1692–1694: Charles Willoughby (1630?–1694) 1694–1696: Edward Smyth (1665–1720) 1696–1723: Claudius Gilbert (1670–1743) 1723–1730: Richard Helsham (1682–1738) 1730–1731: Charles Stuart (circa 1698–1746) 1731–1734: Lambert Hughes (1698–1771) 1734–1735: Robert Shawe (1699?–1752) 1735–1738: Caleb Cartwright (1696?–1763) 1738–1747: John Pellisier (1703–1781) 1747–1750: John Whittingham (1712–1778) 1750–1759: William Clement (1707–1782)William Clements (1733–1763) 1759–1760: Theaker Wilder (1717–1777) 1760–1762: John Stokes (1720?–1781) 1762–1764: Richard Murray (1725?–1799) 1764–1769: Henry Joseph Dabzac (1737–1790) 1769–1770: Henry Ussher (1741–1790) 1770–1782: Gerald Fitzgerald (1739?–1819) 1782–1786: Matthew Young (1750–1800) 1786–1790: Digby Marsh (1750?–1791) 1790–1795: Thomas Elrington (1760–1835) 1795–1800: Whitley Stokes (1763–1845) 1800–1807: Robert Phipps (1765?–1844) 1807–1820: James Wilson (1774?–1829) 1820–1827: Richard MacDonnell (1787–1867) 1827–1832: Henry Harte (1790–1848) 1832–1847: Thomas Luby (1800–1870) 1847–1858: Andrew Hart (1811–1890) 1858–1867: George Salmon (1819–1904) 1867–1876: William Roberts (1817–1883) 1876–1884: Benjamin Williamson (1828–1916) 1884–1904: Arthur Panton (1843–1906) 1904–1907: Robert Russell (1858?–1938) 1917–1923: Reginald Rogers (1874–1923) 1923–1926: Charles Rowe (1893–1943) 1926–1944: TS (Stan) Broderick (1893–1962)
Visiting Donegall Lecturers (since 1967)
1967–1968: Paul Halmos (1916–2006) Spinsters, sequences and the Schroeder-Berstein theorem 1969–1970: James Hamilton (1918–2000) Discrete symmetry properties and elementary particles 1970–1971: Friedrich Hirzebruch (1927–2012) Some relations between topology and number theory 1971–1972: Ailsa Land (1927–2021) Mathematical programming 1972–1973: Dennis Sciama (1926–1999) Black holes and the future of astronomy 1976–1977: Christopher Zeeman (1925–2016) Introduction to catastrophe theory 1978–1979: Dennis Lindley (1923–2013) Decision making, probability and the law 1979–1980: Heini Halberstam (1926–2014) The formation of mathematical concepts: the vibrating string controversy 1982–1983: Lior Tzafriri (1936–2008) New results and problems in the geometry of normed spaces 1983–1984: Marc Yor (1949–2014) Brownian Motion 1985–1986: Roy Kerr (born 1934) Black holes 1986–1987: Wilhelm Kaup Jordan algebras and analysis 1988–1989: T. J. Willmore Variational problems for surfaces 1989–1990: Jacob Schwartz (1930–2009) Mathematical problems in neuroscience and neural nets 1991–1992: Donald Knuth (born 1938) Stable husbands 1994–1995: Freeman Dyson (born 1923) The evolution of science 1996–1997: Christopher Isham (born 1944) The challenge of quantum gravity 1997–1998: James Lighthill (1924–1998) A century of shock waves 1998–1999: Michael Berry (born 1941) Seven wonders of physics 1999–2000: Chen Nigh Yang (1922–2025) 2000–2001: Robbert Dijkgraaf (born 1960) The unreasonable effectiveness of physics in modern mathematics 2002–2003: David Gross (born 1941) The coming revolutions in physics 2003–2004: Ludwig Faddeev (1934–2017) Development of physics from a mathematical point of view 2005–2010: Tony Bell A view of theoretical neuroscience and machine learning 2010: Ludvig Faddeev (1934–2017)
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