Morris Birkbeck Pell

Who was Morris Birkbeck Pell?

Morris Birkbeck Pell was an American-Australian mathematician, academic, government advisor, lawyer and actuary. His maternal grandfather was Morris Birkbeck, the English social reformer and antislavery campaigner, author, publicist and agricultural innovator, who with George Flower, co-founded the English Settlement in the Illinois Territory, USA, 1816-18.

In 1852 Pell was chosen from twenty-six candidates to be the first Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the now Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney. Having graduated as senior wrangler in mathematics at Cambridge University in 1849, he was just 24 years old when he accepted the Sydney appointment. He was one of the University's three foundation professors. Professor Pell gave the first lecture in Mathematics on 13 October 1852, two days after the University's inauguration, to all 24 students of the University. A student, William Windeyer, later to become Chancellor of the University, wrote in his diary: "Went to a lecture at 10 with Mr Pell, who amused as well as instructed, think I shall like him ...".