The Rev. Thomas P. Kirkman

This is the biography of a mathematician of note, who has come to prominence as a father of modern Combinatorics. His work presaged many of the topics in what has become, since the 1960s, Discrete Mathematics. The technicalities of his work could be seen as advanced, but this biography is not about technicalities. I have striven to describe the life of this mathematician and the world he inhabited, accessible to those without a strong mathematical background. It should have meaning for the general reader. I have attempted to convey the life of Kirkman as a Victorian polymath, a man who in his time was known for controversial views.