Michael Roberts (mathematician) facts for kids

Michael Roberts (born April 18, 1817 – died October 4, 1882) was a smart Irish mathematician and a professor at Trinity College, Dublin (TCD). He was the Erasmus Smith's Professor of Mathematics there from 1862 to 1879.

Early Life and Education

Michael Roberts was born in County Cork, Ireland. His family had lived there for a long time, since the 1630s. His mother's family came from Scotland.

Michael had a twin brother named William. They both went to Midleton School in Cork. When he was 16, a portrait was made of Michael and his twin.

In 1833, Michael started studying at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). He won a scholarship in 1836. He learned a lot from a famous mathematician named James MacCullagh. Michael finished his first degree in 1838. After that, he became a Fellow at Trinity.

Professor and Senior Fellow

In 1862, Michael Roberts became the Erasmus Smith's Professor of Mathematics. This was a very important job at the college. He held this position until 1879. Then, he was chosen as a Senior Fellow, which is a higher role.

Before this, in 1848, he was offered a job as the first Professor of Mathematics at Queen's College, Galway. However, he decided to leave that job before the college even opened to students.

Mathematical Discoveries

Michael Roberts was very interested in different areas of mathematics.

Invariants and Covariants

Early in his career, he gave lectures and wrote papers about the "Theory of Invariants and Covariants." These are special mathematical ideas that help describe shapes and equations in a way that doesn't change, even if you move or turn them.

Hyperelliptic Integrals

Later, he became interested in "hyperelliptic integrals." These are advanced types of mathematical problems that other famous mathematicians like Jacobi and Riemann also studied. In 1871, he wrote a book about how to add these integrals. He even created a new way to understand them, similar to how we use trigonometry for circles.

Geodesic Lines and Ellipsoids

Roberts also discovered many things about "geodesic lines" and "lines of curvature" on an "ellipsoid." An ellipsoid is a 3D shape that looks like a squashed sphere, like an egg or a rugby ball.

• Geodesic lines are the shortest paths between two points on a curved surface. Imagine stretching a string tightly across a ball.
• Lines of curvature are special lines on a surface that show how it bends.

He published many papers about these ideas in different math journals. In 1850, he wrote about lines on a surface where the total bending at any point is zero.

At the International Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park, a small model ellipsoid was shown. On this model, the lines of curvature had been drawn using a method that Michael Roberts invented!

He also wrote papers about the properties of roots of "algebraic equations" and other mathematical concepts like "covariants" and "invariants." From 1868 to 1873, he published more work, including papers on "Abelian functions," which are another type of advanced mathematical function.

Personal Life

In 1851, Michael Roberts married Kate Atkin. She was the daughter of John Drew Atkin from Merrion Square, Dublin. Michael and Kate had seven children together: three sons and four daughters.

In the 1870s, Michael's health started to get worse. He passed away in Dublin in October 1882.