George Salmon was the son of Michael Salmon a linen merchant, while his mother was Helen Weekes, daughter of Reverend Edward Weekes. Michael and Helen Salmon had four children. George attended a local school, the school of Mr. Porter, in Cork city where he spent his childhood in the south of Ireland, and at 14 years of age George Salmon entered Trinity College Dublin in 1833. He studied mathematics and classics at Trinity College Dublin, earning a scholarship of classical studies in 1837, and graduating as the best in class in the mathematics course in 1839 with high honors in mathematics. In the year 1841, at the age of 21, George Salmon reached a paid scholarship and professorship of mathematics at Trinity College Dublin. In 1845 he was simultaneously appointed to the position in theology at Trinity, after having been ordained deacon in 1844 and priest in the Church of Ireland in 1845.

 

George Salmon was first publications in which a mathematical algebraic geometry were read in the second half of the 19th century. He held regular and frequent communication with Arthur Cayley and JJ Sylvester the three along with another small group of mathematicians searched develop a system for dealing with algebra and n-dimensional geometry. During this period Salmon published about 36 papers in journals. In these papers for the most part he solved narrowly defined, concrete problems in algebraic geometry, as opposed to more Broadly systematic or foundational questions. Salmon was one of the first to adopt the fundamental innovations of Cayley and others. In 1859 he published the book Lessons Introduction to Modern Higher Algebra (where the word "superior", n-dimensional) having passed through updated and expanded editions in 1866, 1876 and 1885, and was translated into German and French.

In 1848 Salmon had published a book entitled A Treatise on degree bevel. This text remained in print for over fifty years, leaving five editions updated in English, and was translated into German, French and Italian. Salmon did not participate in expansions and updates from later editions made​​. The German version, which was a "free adaptation" taken by Wilhelm Fiedler, was very popular as an undergraduate text in Germany. Salmon also published two other mathematics texts, a treatise on plane curves Superior in 1852 and A Treatise on the Analytical Geometry of three dimensions in 1862. These were also printed for a long time and left a number of later editions, Salmon with delegating work to others of later editions.

In June 1863 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1868 was awarded its Royal Medal "For his research in analytic geometry and the theory of surfaces.". In 1889 Salmon received the Copley Medal of the Royal Society, the highest honorary award in British science, receiving the title of Doctor of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh, which honored him with a doctorate and he was also rector of Trinity College Dublin from 1888 to his death in 1904.

 

George Salmon devoted his life to education and academic research, working as a professor at Trinity College Dubline and soon after the title of rector where he remained in the position until his death. Degree in mathematics and theology with several work and research in both areas of knowledge being awarded high hourly and song by major universities, we can assume that Salmon brought numerous discoveries such as mathematics for his work on algebraic geometry had great repercussion in half 19th Century among other works involving not only math, as publications in theology.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

 

http://maths.ucd.ie/~rodgow/salmonims.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Salmon

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Salmon.html

http://www.tcd.ie/provost/history/former-provosts/g_salmon.php