The Reverend Thomas Penyngton Kirkman was not a mathematical rock-star, not exactly. An Anglican clergyman with a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in Dublin, Kirkman quietly served a small ...

In 1850, Thomas Penyngton Kirkman, a mathematician when he wasn’t fulfilling his main responsibility as a vicar in the Church of England, described his “schoolgirl problem”: “Fifteen young ...

In 1850, Thomas Penyngton Kirkman, a mathematician when he wasn’t fulfilling his main responsibility as a vicar in the Church of England, described his “schoolgirl problem”: “Fifteen young ladies in a ...