My personal feeling is that the elect-a-chick spin was just tagged onto this article concerning the possible successors to Dawkins as an afterthought. A rather shabby afterthought at that: designed merely to stir up controversy.

Cambridge did not gain the reputation it has, and the appointment discussed did not become the meritorious seat it is, by pandering to to external considerations such as PC.

The somewhat inflammatory statement about no female holding the chair in the history of Cambridge kinda gives it away, doesn't it? Along with the use of the idiosyncratic word "chick" in what is an otherwise fairly objectively written article employing Standard English?

A moments reflection by even the dullest mind will dredge up the recollection that no females were ever allowed to study at Cambridge till fairly recently and that, even the concessions made in the early twentieth century to allow one or two in, were accompanied by the codicil that, though they could sit the exams, they could not claim the degree.

Nope. Not gonna take the bait on this one.

romany, you're probably right (give or take replacing hawking by dawkins).

a more interesting question is why the chair in mathematics has to be offered to someone in theoretical physics. are they really saying that if wiles or perelman or tao or etc. wanted the job that they couldn't offer it to them?

BB - whoops! Now we know why the Lucasian hasn't been offered to this chick at least.

Its my understanding that the Chair is open to anyone in the FIELD of mathematics. This encompasses a very broad range of course and, at Cambridge at least, students are offered courses in quantum physics, special relativity,quantum mechanics, dynamics and protocols, quantum mechanics and a vast array of related subjects, as part of their mathematics degree.

The incumbent therefore could be a specialist in any of the fields that are studied within the broad parameters of a degree in mathematics. Physics in various forms are still part of the undergraduate course - it is only post graduate students who specialise.