Thomas Kirkman

For other people named Thomas Kirkman, see Thomas Kirkman (disambiguation).
Thomas Penyngton Kirkman
Born(1806-03-31)31 March 1806
Bolton, Lancashire, England
Died3 February 1895(1895-02-03) (aged 88)
Bowdon near Manchester, England
Occupation(s)Mathematician, Minister
Known forKirkman'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.[1][2][3] 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.[4][5]

  1. ^ Biggs, N. L. (1981), "T. P. Kirkman, mathematician", The Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society, 13 (2): 97–120, doi:10.1112/blms/13.2.97, MR 0608093.
  2. ^ Macfarlane, Alexander (1916), Lectures on Ten British Mathematicians of the Nineteenth Century, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc..
  3. ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. (1996), "Thomas Penyngton Kirkman", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
  4. ^ Tahta, Dick (2006), The Fifteen Schoolgirls, Black Apollo Press, ISBN 1-900355-48-5.
  5. ^ Cameron, Peter J. (2002), "Steiner triple systems", Encyclopaedia of Design Theory.