Waynflete Professorships

Magdalen College, Oxford endows four professorial fellowships named in honour of the college founder William of Waynflete, who had a great interest in science. These professorships are called collectively the Waynflete Professorships, and are statutory professorships of the University of Oxford.

The oldest professorship is the Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy.

The three science professorships were created following the recommendation of the University Commission in 1857 and in recognition of William of Waynflete's lifetime support of science. The professorships are the Waynflete Professor of Chemistry, the Waynflete Professor of Physiology, and the Waynflete Professor of Pure Mathematics.

Waynflete Professors of Metaphysical Philosophy

Currently incomplete

• Henry Longueville Mansel, from 1859 to 1867;
• Henry William Chandler, from 1867 to 1889;
• John Alexander Smith, from 1910 to 1936;
• R. G. Collingwood, from 1936 to 1941;
• Gilbert Ryle, from 1945 to 1967;
• P. F. Strawson, from 1968 to 1987;
• Christopher Peacocke, from 1989 to 2000;
• Dorothy Edgington, from 2003, and the current holder.

Waynflete Professors of Chemistry

The four heads of the Dyson Perrins Laboratory have been the last four of the six Waynflete Professors of Chemistry, from its foundation in 1916 as the University's research centre for organic chemistry to its retirement in 2003.

1. B.C. Brodie Jnr, from establishment in 1865 to 1872;
2. William Odling, from 1872 to 1912;
3. W.H. Perkin, Jr, from 1912 to 1930. First head of Dyson Perrins Laboratory;
4. Sir Robert Robinson, from 1930 to 1954. Nobel prize winner, 1947;
5. Sir Ewart Jones, from 1954 to 1978;
6. Sir Jack Baldwin, current holder.

Waynflete Professors of Physiology

Currently incomplete

• Sir John Scott Burdon-Sanderson, from establishment in 1882 to 1905;
• Colin Blakemore, current holder.

Waynflete Professors of Pure Mathematics

There have been five professors in this chair.

1. Edwin Bailey Elliott, from establishment in 1892 to 1921;
2. A.L. Dixon, 1922 to 1945;
3. John Henry Constantine Whitehead, from 1947 to 1960;
4. Graham Higman, 1960 to 1984;
5. Daniel Quillen, current holder. Fields medallist, 1978.