A Mathematician Vanishes

By Daniel S. Silver

A sex scandal and anti-Irish sentiment doomed Michael O’Shannessy’s career, but two of his students left their mark on science.

This Article From Issue

November-December 2022

Volume 110, Number 6

Page 368

DOI: 10.1511/2022.110.6.368

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In 1826, a perplexing sex scandal engulfed the career of the rising Irish-American mathematician Michael O’Shannessy, a professor at the Albany Academy, a prestigious college-preparatory school in Albany, New York. There is much that we do not know about O’Shannessy and probably never will. We do know that the floodwaters that immersed the mathematician lifted the early careers of two figures who would be remembered: the scientist Joseph Henry and the engineer William H. Sidell.

Michael O’Shannessy, who is virtually forgotten today, was a leading mathematician and educator in his day, nurturing young minds at the prestigious Albany Academy (*right*) for almost a decade. He contributed to numerous mathematics journals, including the *Scientific Journal* (*left*).

**Pictures Now/Alamy Stock Photo**

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