CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Norman Macleod Ferrers

British mathematician (1829–1903)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ2270276 ↗
Source-derived summary

Norman Macleod Ferrers (11 August 1829 – 31 January 1903) was a British mathematician and university administrator and editor of a mathematical journal.

Career and research

Ferrers was educated at Eton College before studying at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he was Senior Wrangler in 1851. He was appointed to a Fellowship at the college in 1852, was called to the bar in 1855 and was ordained deacon in 1859 and priest in 1860. In 1880, he was appointed Master of the college, and served as vice-chancellor of Cambridge University from 1884 to 1885.

Ferrers made many contributions to mathematical literature. From 1855 to 1891, he worked with J. J. Sylvester as editors, with others, in publishing The Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics. Ferrers assembled the papers of George Green for publication in 1871.

In 1861 he published "An Elementary Treatise on Trilinear Co-ordinates". One of his early contributions was on Sylvester's development of Poinsot's representation of the motion of a rigid body about a fixed point.

In 1871 he first suggested to extend the equations of motion with nonholonomic constraints.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Norman Macleod Ferrers” as british mathematician (1829–1903). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Norman, Macleod and Ferrers.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1829, 1903, 1851, 1852—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1829-08-11. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Norman, Macleod and Ferrers providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Norman Macleod Ferrers”, the useful work is to connect “british mathematician (1829–1903)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

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 Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2270276. VIAF identifies the subject as 71473943. The Library of Congress control number is n86866442. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1829, 1903, 1851 and 1852.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. 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.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Norman Macleod Ferrers”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Norman Macleod Ferrers primary sources, Norman Macleod Ferrers archive and Norman research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Norman Macleod Ferrers”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Norman Macleod Ferrers” 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.