21 Facts About James MacCullagh

James MacCullagh was an Irish mathematician and scientist.

James MacCullagh served as the Erasmus Smith's Professor of Mathematics at Trinity College Dublin beginning in 1835, and in 1843, he was appointed as the Erasmus Smith's Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy.

MacCullagh was born in Landahaussy, near Plumbridge, County Tyrone, Ireland, but the family moved to Curly Hill, Strabane when James was about 10.

James MacCullagh was the eldest of twelve children and demonstrated mathematical talent at an early age.

James MacCullagh entered Trinity College Dublin as a student in 1824, winning a scholarship in 1827 and graduating in 1829.

James MacCullagh became a fellow of Trinity College Dublin in 1832 and was a contemporary there of William Rowan Hamilton.

James MacCullagh became a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1833.

James MacCullagh was an inspiring teacher and taught notable scholars, including Samuel Haughton, Andrew Searle Hart, John Kells Ingram and George Salmon.

James MacCullagh had been involved in repeated priority disputes with Hamilton.

In 1833, James MacCullagh claimed that it is a special case of a theorem he published in 1830 that he did not explicate since it was not relevant to that particular paper.

In 1842, Hamilton speculated on a model of ether, to which James MacCullagh claimed that he had speculated on the same model.

James MacCullagh was awarded the Cunningham Medal of the Royal Irish Academy in 1838 for his paper on On the laws of crystalline reflexion and refraction.

James MacCullagh won the Copley medal for his work on the nature of light in 1842.

James MacCullagh was involved with the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

James MacCullagh corresponded with many notable scientists, including John Herschel and Charles Babbage.

In Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, Charles Babbage wrote that James MacCullagh was "an excellent friend of mine" and discussed the benefits and drawbacks of the analytical engine with him.

James MacCullagh found that a conventional potential function proportional to the squared norm of the displacement field was incompatible with known properties of light waves.

James MacCullagh's ideas were largely abandoned and forgotten until 1880, when George Francis FitzGerald re-discovered and re-interpreted his findings in the light of Maxwell's work.

James MacCullagh was an idealistic nationalist, in the sense of the time.

James MacCullagh unsuccessfully contested the election for the Dublin University constituency in 1847.

James MacCullagh could inspire love and yet it was difficult to live with him; and I am thankful that I escaped, so well as I did, from a quarrel, partly because I do not live in College, nor in Dublin.