Frank Morley (September 9, 1860 – October 17, 1937) was a leading mathematician, known mostly for his teaching and research in the fields of

algebra Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...

and

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

. Among his mathematical accomplishments was the discovery and proof of the celebrated Morley's trisector theorem in elementary plane geometry. He led 50 Ph.D. students, including Clara Latimer Bacon, to their degrees, and was said to be :... one of the more striking figures of the relatively small group of men who initiated that development which, within his own lifetime, brought Mathematics in America from a minor position to its present place in the sun.

Life

Morley was born in the town of Woodbridge in Suffolk, England. His parents were Elizabeth Muskett and Joseph Roberts Morley,

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

who ran a

china China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

shop. After being educated at Woodbridge School, Morley went on to King's College, Cambridge (B.A., 1884). In 1887, Morley moved to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. He taught at

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...

until 1900, when he became chairman of the mathematics department at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. His publications include ''Elementary Treatise on the Theory of Functions'' (1893), with James Harkness; and ''Introduction to the Theory of Analytic Functions'' (1898). In 1897, he was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. He was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1917. He was President of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

from 1919 to 1920 and was the editor of the '' American Journal of Mathematics'' from 1900 to 1921. He was an

invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians An invitation system is a method of encouraging people to join an organization, such as a Club (organization), club or a website. In regular society, it refers to any system whereby new members are chosen; they cannot simply apply. In relation to w ...

in 1912 at Cambridge (England), in 1924 at Toronto, and in 1936 at Oslo. In 1933 he and his son Frank Vigor Morley published the "stimulating volume" ''Inversive Geometry''. The book develops

complex number In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the for ...

s as a tool for geometry and function theory. Some non-standard terminology is used such as " base-circle" for

unit circle In mathematics, a unit circle is a circle of unit radius—that is, a radius of 1. Frequently, especially in trigonometry, the unit circle is the circle of radius 1 centered at the origin (0, 0) in the Cartesian coordinate system in the Eucli ...

and " turn" for a point on it. He was a strong

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player and once beat world chess champion Emanuel Lasker in a game. He died in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Maryland, at age 77. He had three sons: novelist Christopher Morley;

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning columnist, journalist, and college president Felix Morley; and Frank Vigor Morley, also a mathematician.

Works

* 1893: (with James Harkness
''A treatise on the theory of functions''
(New York: Macmillan) * 1898: (with James Harkness
''Introduction to the Theory of Analytic Functions''
(G.E.Stechert And Company) * 1919: ''On the Lüroth Quartic Curve'' * 1933: (with son Frank Vigor Morley
Inversive Geometry
Ginn & Co., now available from

HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...

References

* R.C. Archibald, ''A Semicentennial History of the American Mathematical Society (1888–1938)'', Chapter 15: The Presidents: #15 Morley 1919–20. pp. 194–201, includes bibliography of Morley's papers.

External links

* * * * Clark Kimberling
Frank Morley (1860–1937) geometer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morley, Frank 1860 births 1937 deaths 19th-century British mathematicians 19th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American mathematicians British expatriates in the United States British geometers Johns Hopkins University faculty Haverford College faculty Presidents of the American Mathematical Society Alumni of King's College, Cambridge People educated at Woodbridge School People from Woodbridge, Suffolk Members of the American Philosophical Society

Life

Works

See also

References

External links