Ruth Hendry
Category:Use dmy dates from April 2022
The Senior Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain".[1]
Specifically, it is the person who achieves the highest overall mark among the Wranglers – the students at Cambridge who gain first-class degrees in mathematics. The Cambridge undergraduate mathematics course, or Mathematical Tripos, is famously difficult.
Many Senior Wranglers have become world-leading figures in mathematics, physics, and other fields. They include Nicholas Barberis (behavioral finance scholar), George Airy, Jacob Bronowski, Christopher Budd, Kevin Buzzard, Arthur Cayley, Henry Cotterill, Donald Coxeter, Arthur Eddington, Ben Green, John Herschel, James Inman, J. E. Littlewood, Lee Hsien Loong, Jayant Narlikar, William Paley, Morris Pell, John Polkinghorne, Frank Ramsey, Lord Rayleigh (John Strutt), Sir George Stokes, Isaac Todhunter, Sir Gilbert Walker, and James H. Wilkinson.
Senior Wranglers were once fêted with torchlit processions and took pride of place in the university's graduation ceremony.[2] Years in Cambridge were often remembered by who had been Senior Wrangler that year.[1]
The annual ceremony in which the Senior Wrangler becomes known was first held in the 18th century. Standing on the balcony of the university's Senate House, the examiner reads out the class results for mathematics,[3] and printed copies of the results are then thrown to the audience below. The examiner no longer announces the students' exact rankings, but they still identify the Senior Wrangler, nowadays tipping their academic hat when reading out the person's name.
Others who finished in the top 12
Those who have achieved second place, known as Second Wranglers, include Alfred Marshall, James Clerk Maxwell, J. J. Thomson, Lord Kelvin, William Clifford, and William Whewell.
Those who have finished between third and 12th include Archibald Hill, Karl Pearson and William Henry Bragg (third), George Green, G. H. Hardy, and Alfred North Whitehead (fourth), Adam Sedgwick (fifth), John Venn (sixth), Bertrand Russell, Nevil Maskelyne and Sir James Timmins Chance (seventh), Thomas Malthus (ninth), and John Maynard Keynes and William Henry Fox Talbot (12th).
History
Between 1748 and 1909 the university publicly announced the ranking,[4] which was then reported in newspapers such as The Times. The examination was considered to be by far the most important in Britain and the Empire. The prestige of being a high Wrangler was great; the respect accorded to the Senior Wrangler was immense. Andrew Warwick, author of Masters of Theory, describes the term 'Senior Wrangler' as "synonymous with academic supremacy".[5]
Since 1910 successful students in the examinations have been told their rankings privately, and not all Senior Wranglers have become publicly known as such. In recent years, the custom of discretion regarding ranking has progressively vanished, and all Senior Wranglers since 2010 have announced their identity publicly.
The youngest person to be Senior Wrangler is probably Arran Fernandez, who came top in 2013, aged 18 years and 0 months.[6] The previous youngest was probably James Wilkinson in 1939, aged 19 years and nine months.[7] The youngest up to 1909 were Alfred Flux in 1887, aged 20 years and two months[8] and Peter Tait in 1852, aged 20 years and eight months.[9]
Two individuals have placed first without becoming known as Senior Wrangler. One was the student Philippa Fawcett in 1890.[10][11] (She could not receive a degree from Cambridge due to being a woman, and so she could not be the senior wrangler.[12][13] Cambridge did not offer degrees to women until 1948,[13] and no woman became the senior wrangler until Ruth Hendry in 1992.[14]) The other was the mathematics professor George Pólya. As he had contributed to reforming the Tripos with the aim that an excellent performance would be less dependent on solving hard problems and more so on showing a broad mathematical understanding and knowledge, G.H. Hardy asked Pólya to sit the examinations himself, unofficially, during his stay in England in 1924–5. Pólya did so, and to Hardy's surprise, received the highest mark, an achievement which, had he been a student, would have made him the Senior Wrangler.[15]
Derived uses of the term
Senior Wrangler's Walk is a path in Cambridge, the walk to and along which was considered to be sufficient constitutional exercise for a student aspiring to become the Senior Wrangler. The route was shorter than other walks, such as Wranglers' Walk and the Grantchester Grind, undertaken by undergraduates whose aspirations were lower.[16]
Senior Wrangler sauce is a Cambridge term for brandy butter, a type of hard sauce made from brandy, butter, and sugar, traditionally served in Britain with Christmas pudding and warm mince pies.[17]
Senior Wrangler is also the name of a solitaire card game, alternatively known as Mathematics and Double Calculation, played with two decks of cards and involving elementary modular arithmetic.[18][19]
Literary references
Fictional Senior Wranglers appearing in novels include Roger Hamley, a character in Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters, and Tom Jericho, the cryptanalyst in Robert Harris's novel Enigma, who is described as having been Senior Wrangler in 1938. In Catherine Hall's The Proof of Love, Victor Turner is listed as having been Senior Wrangler in 1968.
In George Bernard Shaw's play Mrs. Warren's Profession, the title character's daughter Vivie is praised for "tieing with the third wrangler," and she comments that "the mathematical tripos" means "grind, grind, grind for six to eight hours a day at mathematics, and nothing but mathematics."
In Ford Madox Ford's Parade's End, the character Christopher Tietjens is described as having settled deliberately for only being Second Wrangler, to avoid the weight of expectation that the title would create.
In his Discworld series of novels, Terry Pratchett has a character called the Senior Wrangler, a faculty member at the Unseen University, whose first name is Horace.
The compiler of crosswords for The Leader in the 1930s used 'Senior Wrangler' as a pseudonym.[20]
Coaches
The two most successful 19th-century coaches of Senior Wranglers were William Hopkins and Edward Routh. Hopkins, the 'Senior Wrangler Maker', who himself was the 7th Wrangler, coached 17 Senior Wranglers. Routh, who had himself been the Senior Wrangler, coached 27.[21] Another, described by his student (and Senior Wrangler) J.E. Littlewood as "the last of the great coaches", was another Senior Wrangler, Robert Alfred Herman.[22]
Senior Wranglers and runners up, 1748–1909
During 1748–1909 the top two colleges in terms of number of Senior Wranglers were Trinity and St John's with 56 and 54 respectively. Gonville and Caius was third with 13.
Senior Wranglers since 1910
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2025) |
Senior Wranglers since 1910 also include:
- David Hobson[77] (Christ's College) (1940s)
- Peter Swinnerton-Dyer[78] (Trinity College) (1940s)
- Jack Leeming[79] (St John's College)
- Michael Hall[80] (Trinity College) (1950s)
Ruth Hendry
Ruth Hendry is the first woman to have been the Senior Wrangler, which she was in 1992.
Hendry was a second-generation student at Queens' College, Cambridge. Her father, Tom, was the son of a woman who "wasn't even sure where Cambridge was".[81] Ruth's sisters followed her to Cambridge, Helen reading zoology at St John's and Kate graduating top of her year in geology, also at Queens'. (Kate is now chemical honorary professor at the University of Bristol and an oceanographer and marine biogeochemist in the Polar Oceans Team of the British Antarctic Survey.[82][83])
Hendry became the first female Senior Wrangler in 1992.[14][84][85] (In 1890 Philippa Fawcett had become the first woman to obtain the top score in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos exam,[10][11] but since she could not receive a degree from Cambridge due to being a woman, she could not be the Senior Wrangler.[12][13] Cambridge did not offer degrees to women until 1948.[13]) Hendry also received the Openshaw Prize in Mathematics while at Cambridge.[81] Hendry progressed to a PhD, but became disillusioned with academia, moved to Wales, and runs a notary practice. She is quoted to have said, "I sometimes think when I read my name on Wikipedia's Senior Wrangler page – is that really me?".[81] Queens' College has a mathematics prize in Hendry's honour; it is "The Ruth Hendry Prize – For an outstanding distinction in examinations by a fourth-year undergraduate."[86]
See also
Notes
- ↑ In years where there was a tie, individuals tied have been shown as Senior Wrangler, with the next placed candidate(s) as Proxime Accessit; strictly speaking, if n individuals are tied as Senior Wrangler, any runner up is (n+1)-st Wrangler .
- ↑ Thomas Jones, the Senior Wrangler that year, acted as his tutor.
- ↑ Also senior classic.
- 1 2 According to legend, Kelvin was so confident he had come top that he asked his servant to run to the Senate House and check who the Second Wrangler was. The servant returned and told him, "You, sir!" Kelvin was reportedly beaten largely on the basis of Parkinson's superior exam technique. The result was reversed in the Smith Prize. This story has also been attributed to J.J. Thomson in 1880, and others.[27]
- ↑ Routh found more fame subsequently as a coach of other Senior Wranglers. Indeed for twenty-two consecutive years from 1862, one of his pupils was Senior Wrangler, and he coached twenty-seven in all. His first pupil in 1856 was Third Wrangler, and in 1858 both the Senior and Second Wrangler were coached by him.[28]
- ↑ First Jewish Senior Wrangler. A special grace was passed to allow him to be graduated using a special form of the wording to not offend his religious beliefs.
- ↑ Forsyth was one of the men who were principally responsible for the reform of the Tripos system that led to the end of the Tripos ranking.
- ↑ Regulations were changed to split the class list into Parts I & II, and Part III. The examinations for the former were held in June and retained the ordered class list (in contrast to Part III), so two sets of results exist for this year.
- ↑ Fawcett was the first woman to obtain the top score in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos exam,[10][11] but since she could not receive a degree from Cambridge due to being a woman, she could not be the senior wrangler.[12][13] Cambridge did not offer degrees to women until 1948,[13] and no woman became the Senior Wrangler until Ruth Hendry in 1992.[14].
- ↑ First Indian Senior Wrangler.
- ↑ Eddington was the first person to be Senior Wrangler after only two years of study.[31]
References
- 1 2 Forfar, David (1996). "What became of the Senior Wranglers?". Mathematical Spectrum. 29 (1).
- ↑ Moore, Gregory (2005). "Masters of Theory and its Relevance to the History of Economic Thought". History of Economics Review. 42 (1): 77–99. doi:10.1080/18386318.2005.11681216. S2CID 148477456.
- ↑ "Peter Guthrie Tait" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ↑ Craik, A.D.D. (2007). Mr Hopkins' Men. Springer London. doi:10.1007/978-1-84628-791-6. ISBN 978-1-84628-790-9.
- ↑ Warwick, Andrew (2003). Masters of Theory: Cambridge and the Rise of Mathematical Physics. University Of Chicago Press. p. 205. ISBN 0-226-87375-7.
- 1 2 "Student, 18, youngest ever to come top in Cambridge maths finals". Daily Telegraph. 21 June 2013.
- ↑ Wilkinson, James H. Hammarling, Sven (2003). Encyclopedia of Computer Science. Springer London. ISBN 0-470-86412-5.
- ↑ "To the Editor of the Spectator". The Spectator. 24 June 1899. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
- ↑ Crilly, Tony (2006). Arthur Cayley: mathematician laureate of the Victorian age. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 160. ISBN 0-8018-8011-4.
- 1 2 3 "Philippa Garrett Fawcett". Agnesscott.edu. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- 1 2 3 "The Woman Who Bested the Men at Math | History | Smithsonian". Smithsonianmag.com. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- 1 2 3 Hill, Leslie. Sex, Suffrage and the Stage: First Wave Feminism in British Theatre. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Roberts, Stuart (14 October 2019). "The Rising Tide: Women at Cambridge". www.cam.ac.uk.
- 1 2 3 "Queens' College". Issuu. 29 March 2016. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
- ↑ Alexanderson, Gerald L. (2000). The random walks of George Pólya. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 68.
- ↑ Shapin, Stephen; Lawrence, Christopher, eds. (1998). Science incarnate: historical embodiments of natural knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 303. ISBN 0-226-47014-8.
- ↑ "Brandy butter". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
- ↑ Coops, Helen L (1939). 100 Games of Solitaire (Complete with layouts for playing). Whitman Publishing Company. p. 205.
- ↑ Goren, Charles Henry (1961). Goren's Hoyle Encyclopedia of Games: With Official Rules and Pointers on Play, Including the Latest Laws of Contract Bridge. Greystone Press. p. 643.
- ↑ "Senior Wrangler" of the Leader (1932). The Handy Crossword Companion. Odhams Press.
- ↑ Aris, Rutherford; Davis, H. Ted; Stuewer, Roger H., eds. (1983). Springs of scientific creativity : essays on founders of modern science. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 164. ISBN 0-8166-6830-2. OCLC 814078408.
- ↑ Littlewood, John Edensor (1953). A Mathematician's Miscellany. Methuen Publishing. p. 70.
- ↑ Neale, Charles Montague (1907). The senior wranglers of the University of Cambridge, from 1748 to 1907. With biographical, & c., notes. Bury St. Edmunds: Groom and Son.
- ↑ It appears that '22nd wrangler' in the entry for William Albin Garratt in Venn. "Garratt, William Albin (GRT800WA)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. is a misprint for '2nd wrangler'; cf Neale, Charles Montague (1907), The Senior Wranglers of the University of Cambridge, from 1748 to 1907: With Biographical, etc., Notes (Bury St. Edmunds: F.T. Groom and Son; 61pp), p. 26; at all events, Garratt took the First Smith's Prize in 1804, with the Senior Wrangler, Kaye, placing Second, although Kaye also took the Senior Classical Medal (for reference without prejudice, at the time, other things being equal, undergraduates at Trinity were given preference for the Smith's Prizes)
- ↑ Classical Tripos established.
- ↑ Founded Hymers College.
- ↑ "A History of Mathematics in Cambridge | About the Maths Faculty". www.maths.cam.ac.uk.
- ↑ O'Connor, J. J.; Robertson, E. F. (October 2003). "Routh biography". Retrieved 6 July 2013.
- ↑ An account exists of the 1882 graduation ceremony. "University Intelligence". The Times. 30 January 1882. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
- ↑ John Venn (15 September 2011). Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Cambridge University Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-108-03613-9.
- ↑ Hutchinson, Ian H. (December 2002). "Astrophysics and Mysticism: the life of Arthur Stanley Eddington". Archived from the original on 22 September 2008. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
- ↑ "Bhupati Mohan Sen". Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ↑ "Brian Charles Molony (1892–1963)". Retrieved 6 July 2013.
- ↑ "June Barrow-Green, "Findings From the Archives", IMU-INI Mathematical Colloquia and Panels". Retrieved 15 March 2025.
- ↑ Krantz, Stephen; Parks, Harold (2014). A Mathematical Odyssey: Journey from the Real to the Complex. Springer. p. 64. ISBN 978-1461489382.
- ↑ Roberts, Siobhan; Ivić Weiss, Asia (2006). "Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter. 9 February 1907 — 31 March 2003". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 52. The Royal Society: 45–66. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2006.0004. ISSN 0080-4606. S2CID 70400674.
- ↑ Bronowski's biography at the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive: "Jacob Bronowski". University of St Andrews. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
- ↑ Uppingham School and Clare College Archives.
- ↑ Wilkinson's biography at the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive: "James Hardy Wilkinson". University of St Andrews. Archived from the original on 22 November 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
- ↑ "Oral History Transcript — Dr. Hermann Bondi". American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
- ↑ "John Denis Sargan" (PDF). Retrieved 3 April 2022.
- ↑ "John Cedric Shepherdson" (PDF). Retrieved 3 April 2022.
- ↑ Trinity College Cambridge,"Making Guinness Guinness – Michael Ash" Archived 25 February 2018 at the Wayback MachineCategory:Webarchive template wayback links, The Fountain, Issue 23
- ↑ "Crispin St John Alvah Nash-Williams". University of St Andrews. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
- ↑ Mitton, Simon (2005). Fred Hoyle: A Life in Science. Aurum. p. 275. ISBN 978-1-85410-961-3.
- ↑ "Geoffrey Charles Fox". Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ↑ "Sudden end to the first Mastership". Churchill College, Cambridge. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
- ↑ "Profile: Banking's boy wonder: Derek Wanless – NatWest's chief has a personal touch but a pragmatic vision, says William Kay". Independent. 27 March 1994.
- ↑ Woo, Gordon (1999). The Mathematics of Natural Catastrophes. Imperial College Press. p. 292. ISBN 1-86094-182-6.
- ↑ Kuan Yew, Lee (2000). From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000. Harper. pp. 750–751. ISBN 978-0-06019-776-6.
- ↑ Neo Hui Min (12 August 2004). "Dennis Marrian, University Tutor". Straits Times. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
- ↑ "Oral history interview with Wallace Sargent". 24 September 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
- ↑ "Seven things people didn't know about me". Retrieved 6 January 2011.
- ↑ "(correction by author)". Retrieved 26 February 2012.
- ↑ "Curriculum vitae of Prof. C. J. Budd" (PDF). University of Bath. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ↑ "Whirlpool numbers". Plus Magazine. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
- ↑ "CV of Kevin Buzzard" (PDF). Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- ↑ "Letter of confirmation of first place 1992 pt II mathematical tripos" (PDF). Retrieved 6 April 2015.
- ↑ "Where are they now? Ruth Hendry (1989): the only known female Senior Wrangler in history" (PDF). Retrieved 9 September 2016.
- ↑ "Mathematical biography of Ben Green" (PDF). Clay Mathematics Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
- ↑ "Toby Gee" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
- ↑ Timothy Gowers (14 April 2013). "Answers, results of polls, and a brief description of the program". Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ↑ "The Next Generation of Proof Assistants" (PDF). Computing Science Department – Radboud University Nijmegen. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
- ↑ "The 46th International Mathematical Olympiad in Mexico". Retrieved 19 January 2011.
- ↑ "David Loeffler Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Retrieved 1 October 2015.
- ↑ "Varsity 100" (PDF). Mercer Management Consulting. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
- ↑ "Dấu ấn Việt ở Cambridge". Tuổi Trẻ Online. 7 February 2008. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
- ↑ "Trinity Hall rises to 7th in the Baxter tables". Trinity Hall. Retrieved 6 July 2013.Category:All articles with dead external linksCategory:Articles with dead external links from January 2026[dead link]
- ↑ "CV Zihan Hans Liu" (PDF). Trinity.Category:All articles with dead external linksCategory:Articles with dead external links from January 2026[dead link]
- ↑ "Sean Eberhard '08 Reaches Pinnacle at Cambridge". Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
- ↑ "Sean is Cambridge University's Top Maths Student" (PDF). Havering Sixth Form College. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
- ↑ Limb, Lottie (23 November 2020). "The maths genius who joined Cambridge Uni at 15 and took his GCSEs at 5". CambridgeshireLive. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ↑ "Downing College News – Senior Wrangler". Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ↑ "Trinity College Cambridge Annual Record 2014–2015" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ↑ Boss, Sally (2016). "The College Year". Churchill Review. Vol. 53. Churchill College, Cambridge. p. 15–18.
- ↑ "Warren Li" (PDF). Warren Li. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
- ↑ "David Hobson: senior partner of Coopers & Lybrand (obituary)". The Times. Archived from the original on 8 May 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2011.(subscription required)Category:Pages containing links to subscription-only content
- ↑ "Sir Peter is Unhorsed". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)Category:CS1 maint: deprecated archival service - ↑ "Tributes have been paid to Dame Cheryl Gillan's husband Jack Leeming". Bucks Free Press. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
- ↑ "F M Hall (1935–2005) (obituary)". Shrewsbury School. 29 March 2011. Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
- 1 2 3 "Where are they now?". The Bridge: The past, present and future of Queens' College (4): 4. 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ↑ "Our People". University of Bristol. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ↑ "People". British Antarctic Survey. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ↑ "DAMPT Senior Wrangler" (PDF). Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ↑ Barrow-Green, June (2020). "The Accident of Being the First Woman Senior Wrangler" (PDF). London Mathematical Society Newsletter (488): 20–25. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ↑ "College Prizes and Awards". Queens' College, Cambridge. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
Bibliography
- Galton, Francis (2000). "Classification of Men According to their Natural Gifts". In James Roy Newman (ed.). The World of Mathematics. Vol. 2. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-41150-8.
- ed. H.C.G Matthew and Brian Harrison, ed. (2004). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
- Tanner, Joseph Robson (1917). The historical register of the University of Cambridge, being a supplement to the Calendar with a record of University offices, honours and distinctions to the year 1910 (PDF). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 19 September 2008.
- Venn, John (1922–27). Alumni Cantabrigienses. Cambridge University Press.Category:CS1: abbreviated year range
- Paul, Margaret (2012). Frank Ramsey (1903–1930): A Sister's Memoir. Smith-Gordon.