William Morgan : Eighteenth Century Actuary, Mathematician and Radical

This biography explains William Morgan's role in developing the mathematics that underpin the money management of pension funds. It focuses also on the experiment in which Morgan created an X-ray tube, and examines his outspoken political views and turbulent private life.

To meet William Morgan is to encounter the eighteenth-century world of finance, science and politics. Born in Bridgend in 1750, he claimed Welsh heritage, but his influence went far beyond national borders and the legacy of his work continues to shape life in the twenty-first century. This biography, which draws on archival research and a cache of unpublished Morgan family letters, tells the story of his life and intellectual contributions.

At the age of twenty-five—and with no formal training—Morgan became an actuary at the Equitable, then a fledgling life insurance company. It was the first step on a path that would lead him to be dubbed “the father of actuarial science” and earn him the Copley Medal, the most prestigious award given by the Royal Society. His interests went far beyond actuarial tables, however—his papers on his electrical experiments reveal that, albeit unwittingly, he constructed the first X-ray tube. And as a political radical, his outspoken views put him at risk of imprisonment during Pitt’s Reign of Terror. This accessible biography introduces readers to a fascinating polymath whose influence is still being felt today.