Pádraig de Brún

Monsignor Pádraig de Brún (1889 – 1960) was an Irish clergyman, mathematician, poet, and classical scholar, who served as President of University College Galway.

De Brún was born at Grangemockler, County Tipperary, in 1889, the son of a primary school teacher, Maurice Browne.

He was educated locally, at Rockwell College, Cashel, and at Holy Cross College, Clonliffe, Dublin (at both he was tutored in mathematics by Eamon De Valera). in 1909 he was awarded a BA from the Royal University of Ireland, he was awarded an M.A. degree by the National University of Ireland, and won a travelling scholarship in mathematics and mathematical physics, enabling him to pursue further studies in Paris. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood at the Irish College in Paris in 1913, and took his D.Sc. from the Sorbonne for a thesis in mathematics.

After a period at the University of Göttingen, de Brún was appointed Professor of Mathematics at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, in 1914. In April 1945, he was elected by the Senate of the National University of Ireland to succeed Mgr. John Hynes as President of University College Galway, an office he held until his retirement in 1959. The School of Mathematics, Mathematical Physics and Statistics is based in Áras de Brún, a building named in his honour. He subsequently became Chairman of the Arts Council of Ireland, a position he held until his death in 1960. He also served as Chairman of the Council of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

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