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 1969-1979 Fluid Mechanics Stephen W. Hawking 1942- 1979-2009 Theoretical Physics Michael Green 1946- 2009- 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)
