Oxfords Sedleian Professors of Natural Philosophy

Established in the early seventeenth century following a bequest to the university by Sir William Sedley, Oxford’s Sedleian Professorship of Natural Philosophy is one of the university’s oldest professorships. In common with other such positions established around this time, such as the Savilian Professorships of Geometry and Astronomy, for example, its purpose was to provide centrally organised lectures on a specific subject.

While the Professorship is now a high-profile research post in applied mathematics, it has previously been held by physicians, an astronomer, and several people in the eighteenth century whose credentials in natural philosophy are much less clear.

This edited volume traces the varied history of the chair through the first four centuries of its existence, combining specialised contributions from historians of medicine, of science, of mathematics, and of universities, together with personal reminiscences of some of the more recent holders of the post.

Christopher Hollings, Departmental Lecturer, Mathematical Institute, Oxford Senior Research Fellow, The Queen’s College, Oxford, Mark McCartney, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, Ulster University

Christopher D. Hollings is a Lecturer in Mathematics and its History at the University of Oxford and is the Vice President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics.

Mark McCartney is a senior lecturer in mathematics at Ulster University and a former President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics.