Mathematician:Thomas Penyngton Kirkman

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Mathematician

British mathematician and ordained minister of the Church of England, renowned for obtaining an existence theorem for Steiner triple systems that founded the field of combinatorial design theory.

Thus he pre-empted Jakob Steiner in this by over $6$ years.

The Kirkman's Schoolgirl Problem is named after him.


Nationality

English


History

  • Born: 31 March 1806 in Bolton (near Manchester), England
  • 4 February 1895 in Bowdon (near Manchester), England


Theorems and Definitions

Results named for Thomas Penyngton Kirkman can be found here.


Publications

  • 1846: On a Problem in Combinatorics
  • 1848: On Pluquaternions and Homoid Products of n Squares
  • 1863: The complete theory of groups


Sources