Ian Howarth – Academic Genealogy



As one goes back in time, the distinction between "supervisor", "advisor", and "influence" becomes blurred...but as a bit of fun:

My PhD advisor (supervisor) was Professor Sir Robert Wilson, FRS (1927–2002),

Whose advisor was W.M.H. Greaves (1897–1955), Astronomer Royal for Scotland,

Whose advisor was Henry F. Baker (1866–1956),

Whose advisor was Arthur Cayley (1821–1895),

Whose advisor was William Hopkins (1793–1866),

Whose advisor was Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873),

Whose advisors were John Dawson (1734–1820) and Thomas Jones (1756–1807).

Dawson's advisors were Edward Waring (1736–1798) and Henry Bracken (1697–1764);
Jones' advisors were John Cranke (1746–1816) and Thomas Postlethwaite (1731–1798).

Postlethwaite's advisor was Stephen Whisson (d.1783),

Whose advisor was Walter Taylor (d.1743/4),

Whose advisor was Robert Smith (1689–1768),

Whose advisor was Roger Coates (1682–1716),

Whose advisor was Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727),

Whose advisors were Benjamin Pulleyn (d.1690) and Isaac Barrow (1630–1677).

Barrow's advisors were James Duport (1606–1679), Gilles de Roberval (1602–1675), and Vicenzo Viviani (1622–1703).

De Roberval was advised by Marin Mersenne (1588–1648) and Etienne Pascal (1588–1651, father of Blaise Pascal);

Viviani's advisor was Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei, aka Galileo Galilei (1564–1642).

[Galileo's advisor was Ostilio Ricci (1540–1603), whose advisor was Niccolo Tartagila (1500–1557).]