Samuel Earnshaw

Samuel Earnshaw (1 February 1805 to 6 December 1888, both in Sheffield, Yorkshire) was an English clergyman, mathematician and physicist, noted for his contributions to theoretical physics and especially for proving Earnshaw's theorem, which shows the impossibility of stability of matter under purely electrostatic forces. He entered St John's College, Cambridge, and graduated as Senior Wrangler and Smith's Prizeman in 1831. From 1831 to 1847 he worked in Cambridge as a tripos coach, in 1846 was appointed to the parish church of St Michael, Cambridge, and for a time acted as curate to Charles Simeon. In 1847 his health broke down and he returned to Sheffield as a chaplain and teacher. He published several sermons and treatises and also wrote on optics, calculus, trigonometry and partial differential equations.