| Authorised form of name | Muir; Sir; Thomas (1844 - 1934); mathematician and educationist |
| Dates | 1844 - 1934 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Stonebyres, Falls of Clyde, Lanarkshire, Scotland |
| Date of birth | 25 August 1844 |
| Place of death | Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa |
| Date of death | 21/03/1934 |
| Dates and places | Burial: Maitland cemetery, near Rondebosch. |
| Occupation | mathematician and educationist |
| Research field | Algebra |
| Mathematics |
| Activity | Education:
Wishaw public school; Glasgow University (1863–8) LLD; MA
Career:
Mathematical tutor at the University of St Andrews (1868–71); assistant to Hugh Blackburn, professor of mathematics at Glasgow University (1871-4); head of the mathematics and science departments at the high school of Glasgow (1874–92); moved to South Africa and in Cape Colony succeeded Sir Langham Dale as superintendent-general of education (1892-1915) where he reorganised the entire public education system, from elementary school to university; vice-chancellor of the University of the Cape in (1897–1901).
Honours:
CMG 1901; Kt 1915
Memberships:
FRSE
Edinburgh Mathematical Society (founding member)
South African Association for the Advancement of Science (President 1910)
Awards/Medals:
RSE Keith Prize 1884; 1899 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 14/06/1900 |
| Age at election | 56 |
| Proposer | Joseph David Everett; John Murray; Andrew Russell Forsyth; [John William Strutt] Rayleigh; George Hartley Bryan; Micaiah John Muller Hill; Percy Alexander MacMahon; Charles Chree |
| [William Thompson] Kelvin; James Joseph Sylvester; David Gill; James Thomson Bottomley; John Gray McKendrick; Andrew Gray |
| Relationships | Parents: George Muir, railway superintendent, and Mary Brown.
Spouse: Maggie (d. 1919), youngest daughter of Dugald Bell, merchant, of Dunbartonshire, and his wife, Isabella Young (12 October 1876).
Children: Two sons and two daughters. |
| General context | Remembered as an authority on determinants. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll
Obituaries:
Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1932-1935 vol l pp 179-184, plate, by Herbert Westren Turnbull |
| Royal Society code | NA3587 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| EC/1900/11 | Muir, Sir Thomas: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| NLB/26/672 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to, Dr Thomas Muir, Fellow of the Royal Society, Cape Town | 8 May 1903 |
| NLB/25/166 | Copy letter from [A H White], to Dr Thomas Muir, Fellow of the Royal Society | 5 September 1902 |
| NLB/26/511 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to, Dr Thomas Muir, Fellow of the Royal Society | 3 April 1903 |
| NLB/25/324 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Thomas Muir, Fellow of the Royal Society | 17 October 1902 |
| NLB/25/372 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Thomas Muir, Fellow of the Royal Society, Department of Public Education, Cape Town | 24 October 1902 |
| NLB/25/708 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Thomas Muir, Fellow of the Royal Society, Department of Public Education, Cape of Good Hope | 12 December 1902 |
| NLB/25/836 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Thomas Muir, Fellow of the Royal Society | 9 January 1903 |
| NLB/32/5 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Thomas Muir | 11 December 1905 |
| NLB/46/685 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Thomas Muir, Fellow of the Royal Society | 16 October 1912 |
| NLB/46/794 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Thomas Muir, Fellow of the Royal Society | 4 November 1912 |
| NLB/56/516 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Thomas Muir, FRS; Elmcote, Sandown Road, Rondebosch | 27 February 1919 |
| MC/27/254 | Letter from [Thomas] Muir, Capetown [sic.], [South Africa], to [Robert] Harrison, Royal Society, London | 17 November 1912 |
| NLB/64/739 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to R.H. Dick, Esq. M.A.; Boys' High School, South Africa | 12 June 1923 |
| NLB/53/593 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Alfred [Bray] Kempe, Treasurer of the Royal Society | 06 November 1916 |
| MC/18/174 | Letter from [Thomas] Muir, Education Office, Cape Town, to the Royal Society | 11 March 1903 |
| MC/18/175 | Letter from [Thomas] Muir, Department of Public Education, Cape Town, South Africa, to the Royal Society | 18 March 1903 |
| MC/17 | Volume 17 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1897-1899 |
| MC/27/253 | Letter from [Thomas] Muir, Department of Public Education, Cape Town, to [Robert] Harrison, [Assistant] Secretary, Royal Society, Burlington House, London, W | 5 November 1912 |
| MC/18 | Volume 18 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1903 |