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James Wilson (mathematician)

graduation mathematician of trinity college

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ85770722 ↗
Source-derived summary

James Wilson (1774? – 24 April 1829) was an Irish mathematician whose career was spent at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). He was born in Dublin, his father being William, and was brought up there. He studied at TCD, graduating BA (1794), MA (1800) and later BD & DD (1811).

While at TCD he was elected a Fellow (1800), was Donegall Lecturer (1807–1820), and Erasmus Smith's Professor of Mathematics (1822–1825). He spent his final years as Rector of Clonfeacle (County Tyrone) (1825–1829).

Editorial summary

“James Wilson (mathematician)” enters the record as graduation mathematician of trinity college. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what James, Wilson and mathematician can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1774, 1829, 1794, 1800—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1774-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around James, Wilson and mathematician.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“James Wilson (mathematician)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, James, Wilson and mathematician provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q85770722. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1774, 1829, 1794 and 1800.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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This entry incorporates text from “James Wilson (mathematician)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.