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Percy MacMahon
Times obituary
Major Percy Alexander MacMahon, F.R.S., late R.A., the distinguished mathematician, died suddenly on Christmas Day at his residence at Bognor, at the age of 75.
Born at Malta on September 26, 1854, the second son of Brigadier-General P. W. MacMahon, he was sent to Cheltenham College and joined the Royal Artillery from Woolwich in 1872. Ten years later, he returned to the Royal Military Academy as an instructor in mathematics, and in 1890, he was appointed Professor of Physics at the Ordnance College, holding that post until 1897. He retired from the Army in 1898. From 1906 to 1920, he was Deputy Warden of the Standards, Board of Trade.
MacMahon's research was particularly concerned with combinatory analysis, part of the "additive" theory of numerals, in the development of which he played an important role by English mathematicians, contributing important papers to the journals of learned societies. The value of his work was recognized early on. He was elected F.R.S. in 1890 and president in 1894 of the London Mathematical Society, which conferred on him the De Morgan Medal in 1933. From the Royal Society he received a Royal Medal in 1900 and the S. Sylvester Medal in 1910 and was elected vice-president in 1917. He had a long connection with the British Association, having been president of the mathematical and physical section at the Glasgow meeting in 1901 and general secretary from 1902 to 1914, when he was appointed a truster He was president of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1917, a member of the Permanent Eclipse Committee and of the Council of the Royal Society of Arts, and an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy and of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. Honorary degrees were conferred on him by Cambridge, Dublin, Aberdeen, and St. Andrews Universities, and he was a governor and Fellow of Winchester College. He was elected a member of the Athenæum under Rule II in 1903.
The funeral will be at St. Wilfred's, Bognor, on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m
Major Percy Alexander MacMahon, F.R.S., late R.A., the distinguished mathematician, died suddenly on Christmas Day at his residence at Bognor, at the age of 75.
Born at Malta on September 26, 1854, the second son of Brigadier-General P. W. MacMahon, he was sent to Cheltenham College and joined the Royal Artillery from Woolwich in 1872. Ten years later, he returned to the Royal Military Academy as an instructor in mathematics, and in 1890, he was appointed Professor of Physics at the Ordnance College, holding that post until 1897. He retired from the Army in 1898. From 1906 to 1920, he was Deputy Warden of the Standards, Board of Trade.
MacMahon's research was particularly concerned with combinatory analysis, part of the "additive" theory of numerals, in the development of which he played an important role by English mathematicians, contributing important papers to the journals of learned societies. The value of his work was recognized early on. He was elected F.R.S. in 1890 and president in 1894 of the London Mathematical Society, which conferred on him the De Morgan Medal in 1933. From the Royal Society he received a Royal Medal in 1900 and the S. Sylvester Medal in 1910 and was elected vice-president in 1917. He had a long connection with the British Association, having been president of the mathematical and physical section at the Glasgow meeting in 1901 and general secretary from 1902 to 1914, when he was appointed a truster He was president of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1917, a member of the Permanent Eclipse Committee and of the Council of the Royal Society of Arts, and an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy and of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. Honorary degrees were conferred on him by Cambridge, Dublin, Aberdeen, and St. Andrews Universities, and he was a governor and Fellow of Winchester College. He was elected a member of the Athenæum under Rule II in 1903.
The funeral will be at St. Wilfred's, Bognor, on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m
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