Thomas Kirkman
| Thomas Penyngton Kirkman | |
|---|---|
| Born |
31 March 1806 Bolton, Lancashire |
| Died | 3 February 1895 (aged 88) Bowdon near Manchester |
| Occupation | Mathematician |
| Known for | Kirkman's schoolgirl problem |
Thomas Penyngton Kirkman FRS (31 March 1806 – 3 February 1895) was a British mathematician and ordained minister of the Church of England. Despite being primarily a churchman, he maintained an active interest in research-level mathematics, and was listed by Alexander Macfarlane as one of ten leading 19th-century British mathematicians. In the 1840s, he obtained an existence theorem for Steiner triple systems that founded the field of combinatorial design theory, while the related Kirkman's schoolgirl problem is named after him.
Kirkman was born 31 March 1806 in Bolton, in the north west of England, the son of a local cotton dealer. In his schooling at the Bolton Grammar School, he studied classics, but no mathematics was taught in the school. He was recognised as the best scholar at the school, and the local vicar guaranteed him a scholarship at Cambridge, but his father would not allow him to go. Instead, he left school at age 14 to work in his father's office.
Nine years later, defying his father, he went to Trinity College Dublin, working as a private tutor to support himself during his studies. There, among other subjects, he first began learning mathematics. He earned a B.A. in 1833 and returned to England in 1835.
On his return to England, Kirkman was ordained into the ministry of the Church of England and became the curate in Bury and then in Lymm. In 1839 he was invited to become rector of Croft with Southworth, a newly founded parish in Lancashire, where he would stay for 52 years until his retirement in 1892. Theologically, Kirkman supported the anti-literalist position of John William Colenso, and was also strongly opposed to materialism. He published many tracts and pamphlets on theology, as well as a book Philosophy Without Assumptions (1876).
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