Department of Mathematics

The first lecture in Mathematics took place on 13 October 1852, two days after the inauguration of the University. The first Professor, and head of the Department of Mathematics, was Morris Birkbeck Pell, one of the University's three Foundation Professors.
Pell was a graduate of St Johns College Cambridge where he excelled and in 1850 was elected to a Fellowship of his College so was an excellent candidate for the first professorship at the University.
At this time the lectures were held in the former Sydney College and it was not until 1859, and the completion of the Great Hall, that lectures were held on the site of what is now the University of Sydney. The first year saw 24 students enrolled on the course which required a minimum of two years study be undertaken. By the time of his retirement in 1877 there were 58 students and the length of the course remained the same but the subjects had grown to include conic sections; calculus; dynamics; algebra and trigonometry.

Pell's successor was Theodore Thomas Gurney and he oversaw a period of growth in both the number of students and staff. The first permanent lecturer was appointed in 1880 and by 1887 the staff had grown to four. Also in 1885 the Faculty of Science was created and the Department of Mathematics became a part of this. By the time of Gurneys retirement in 1902 there were 244 students enrolled in the University and 26 had graduated with 1st class honours in mathematics during his term as Professor.

Horatio Scott Carslaw was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics, Pure and Applied in 1903. In addition to lecturing he produced many research articles and helped to advance the teaching of the subject in Australia through the writing of various textbooks and through his work as Chief Examiner in Mathematics. His staff were still small but his achievements impressive.

Carslaw retired in 1934 to be followed by Thomas Gerald Room, a graduate of and lecturer at Cambridge University. He inherited the problems of a Mathematics Department understaffed due to the depression and from 1937 to 1940 there were only 5 full time staff members and when, from 1941-1945, Room was seconded to the intelligence service, the staffing situation reached crisis point.

In 1945 the decision was made to invite applications for a new Chair of Applied Mathematics and a graduate of Auckland University College, K E Bullen was appointed in 1946. He and Room clashed over the teaching of their separate fields and in 1953 the Department of Mathematics was divided into two sections; a Department of Pure Mathematics and a Department of Applied Mathematics.

A further Chair was also added in 1959 for Mathematical Statistics and a new department was created. It was very successful and grew quickly until, by 1970, there were 6 full time members of staff.

The departments grew considerably during the 1970s and 1980s as did the number of available courses. Many of these courses crossed over between the two fields and extended into other subjects such as engineering and physics.

From 1 January 1991 the three departments were merged to form the School of Mathematics and Statistics.