Past Wranglers
See also: a list of Senior Wranglers since 1910 and a list of Senior Wranglers and Second Wranglers, 1748-1909Top marks in the Cambridge mathematics exam did not always guarantee the Senior Wrangler success in life; the exams were largely a test of speed in applying familiar rules, and some of the most inventive and original students of Mathematics at Cambridge did not come top of their class. Bragg was third, Hardy was fourth, Sedgwick fifth, Malthus was ninth, Bertrand Russell was seventh, Keynes was 12th, and some fared even worse: Klaus Roth was not even a wrangler. The present Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees, a wrangler, would go on to become one of the world's leading scientists, while also holding the posts of Master of Trinity College (Cambridge) and President of the Royal Society.
The first woman to top the mathematics list was Philippa Fawcett in 1890. At the time, women were not officially ranked, although they were told how they had done compared to the male candidates, so she was ranked "above the Senior Wrangler".
Read more about this topic: Wrangler (University Of Cambridge)