One can even see his original works in the library and at the Royal Society. The lineage of the professors who held the Lucasian Chair is unbroken from a time before the United States was a sovereign nation. This has been a story of the unrelenting quest for knowledge and understanding through difficult times, yet with resounding success. It has demonstrated why universities have existed and must continue to exist. As Einstein has said, freedom is required for greatness to be achieved.
Academic freedom is as important as any other freedom.
The results of the freedom in a chair by its holder to create has been clearly demonstrated by the Lucasian Professorship. There are many other chairs in many other universities for many other disciplines. This particular history has had more influence than most, but they all have a history that has had some influence on our world. Universities have been contributing to our world since the late twelfth century and hopefully will continue for many centuries more. The contributions of this Chair can be seen in several ways.