Cambridge tales

My alma mater, the University of Cambridge in England, celebrated its 800th birthday in the year 2009. A university that old does pick up legends and traditions. Here are some.

A university means examinations. The Cambridge honours examination is called the Tripos, usually associated with each subject. Of these the Mathematical Tripos is the oldest. The lists of successful candidates were divided into four categories: wranglers, who were equivalent to first class, senior optimes corresponding to second class and junior optimes equivalent to third class. These three categories described candidates qualifying for the honours degree. The fourth category listed poll men, i.e. those with the pass degree. Even today, this classification continues for honours candidates in mathematics, but with one important difference. In the old days, all honours candidates were ranked and the topmost and bottommost candidates had special designations.

The topmost, i.e. the first amongst wranglers, was called Senior Wrangler. The bottommost candidate was called the Wooden Spoon for the reason that while getting his degree in the Senate House, this gentleman would be presented with a wooden spoon for his achievement. This presentation was unofficial, being made by his fellow students with no objection from the university! But while we see the wooden spoon as an honour in the reverse, we should appreciate the fact that it is not easy to pass an examination but with the lowest marks! For if you set out to achieve this feat, you need to perform well enough to pass but badly enough to be at the bottom of the pass list.

Amongst the many stories to do with the Mathematical Tripos is the one related to the physicist James Clerk Maxwell who as an undergraduate aspired to be Senior Wrangler. In fact, he was so confident of being one that he did not go to the announcement ceremony but sent his servant there to report on who amongst his rivals stood second. The servant went and brought back the result sheet. Maxwell eagerly asked him: “Well, who stood second ” The servant replied: “You, sir.”

The famous 19th century physicist William Thomson (who later became well known as Lord Kelvin) had a rival called Parkinson. They both were tipped for Senior Wrangler. Eventually, Parkinson stood first and Thomson second. Both of them had, however, solved a particularly difficult question which no other student could do. Since their solution and notation were the same, the examiner suspected that copying might have taken place. To ascertain the truth he called Parkinson first and asked him how he had managed to solve the very difficult question. Parkinson replied that he was used to perusing research journals and had come across a paper by an anonymous author which covered exactly that question.

Since the examiner had picked up that question from the very same paper, he complimented the student for his interest in research. He then called Thomson and, certain now that Thomson had copied Parkinson’s solution, somewhat belligerently commented: “Parkinson tells me that he had seen the solution in an anonymous research paper don’t tell me that you also saw the answer there!” To this Thomson replied: “No Sir. I wrote that paper.”

Karl Pearson, who became a distinguished statistician, had gone through the same examination ordeal. It is said that during his examination he noticed that a sportsman friend of his sitting next to him had ticked off one question. In those days the paper had easy questions for sportsmen and other non-scholars who could get a pass degree without having to work hard. For scholars there were difficult questions with high marks. Since his friend had ticked the question within half an hour, Pearson concluded that it must be an easy question.

However, on careful reading he found it hard and was puzzled as to how his friend had managed to solve it. Taking it as a challenge, Pearson finally solved it but it took him the entire time. After the exam he asked his friend how he had managed to solve that question as his tick mark suggested. The friend laughed and said his tick mark was part of just doodling as he could not solve any question. Later it turned out that it was the hardest question in the paper, solving which brought Pearson high marks in that paper.

These stories highlight the excessive competition between bright students since the Senior Wranglership commanded great respect in Cambridge academia. Considering this practice unhealthy for the future career of a bright student, after 1909 the ranking was abolished by the university and candidates in each category were listed alphabetically. Nevertheless, even today, the Mathematical Tripos retains a certain ritualistic aura even though the ranking is gone and the lists are alphabetical. I recall the ordeal of attending the announcement of Tripos results as a candidate. It took place in the Senate House at 9 am.

The chairman of the examiners stood on the inside balcony and at the stroke of nine by the university church clock across the road, raised his mortar board by way of greetings and started reading out the list. My tension shot up as the alphabetical listing approached N, my initial: and I still recall the immense relief I felt on hearing my name. As per the custom, when all the lists are read the examiner throws the bunch of result sheets down from the balcony and the undergraduates scramble to get one as a memento. I have retained mine since 1959.

However, even though the Senior Wranglers are no more, setting difficult questions continues to this day! There is the story of a maths professor bragging to his economist colleague: “In our field we set new problems in the examination every year which makes it very hard for our students. On the other hand in your subject I notice that every year you ask the same questions and this should make life easy for your students.” “Not quite!” replied the economist. “In our field the questions might be the same but the answers change every year.”

The writer, a renowned astrophysicist, is professor emeritus at Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune University Campus. He was Cambridge University’s Senior Wrangler in Maths in 1959.