William Smyth was a writer on mathematics and other subjects. He graduated from Bowdoin College

Bowdoin College

Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...

 in 1822, then studied theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 at Phillips Academy Andover

Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...

. In 1825, he became a professor of mathematics at Bowdoin College, and in 1846 became an associate professor of natural philosophy. The Bowdoin College Department of Mathematics Smyth Prize is named in his honor.

External links

• Smyth Prize
• http://www.virtualology.com/apwilliamsmyth/ An article whose original source is the controversial Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography
  Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography
  Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography is a six-volume collection of biographies of famous Americans. It was published between 1887 and 1889 by D. Appleton and Company, New York. The general editors were James Grant Wilson and John Fiske; the managing editor from 1886 to 1888 was Rossiter...
  
  , originally published in 1887-1889, and republished in 1999.