The Lucasian Professorship
The Lucasian Professorship was originally granted to the University of Cambridge by Henry Lucas, in December 1663. Henry Lucas, Member of Parliament for the university, had left instructions in his will for the purchase of land to support the professorship.Below is a list of the past Lucasian Professors.
| Name | Born-died | Period with Chair | Major area of research |
| Isaac Barrow | 1630-1677 | 1664-1669 | Classics & Mathematics |
| Sir Isaac Newton | 1642-1727 | 1669-1702 | Mathematics & Physics |
| William Whiston | 1667-1752 | 1702-1710 | Mathematics |
| Nicolas Saunderson | 1682-1739 | 1711-1739 | Mathematics |
| John Colson | 1680-1760 | 1739-1760 | Mathematics |
| Edward Waring | 1736-1798 | 1760-1798 | Mathematics |
| Isaac Milner | 1750-1820 | 1798-1820 | Mathematics & Chemistry |
| Robert Woodhouse | 1773-1827 | 1820-1822 | Mathematics |
| Thomas Turton | 1780-1864 | 1822-1826 | Mathematics |
| Sir George Airy | 1801-1892 | 1826-1828 | Astronomy |
| Charles Babbage | 1792-1871 | 1828-1839 | Mathematics & Computing |
| Joshua King | 1798-1857 | 1839-1849 | Mathematics |
| Sir George Stokes | 1819-1903 | 1849-1903 | Physics & Fluid Mechanics |
| Sir Joseph Larmor | 1857-1942 | 1903-1932 | Physics |
| Paul A.M. Dirac | 1902-1984 | 1932-1969 | Physics |
| Sir M. James Lighthill | 1924-1998 | 1969-1980 | Fluid Mechanics |
| Stephen W. Hawking | 1942- | 1980- | Theoretical Physics |
The information in this section was gathered from a number of different web pages. In particular: http://www.tiac.net/users/bruen/brief.html (Link now lost)