Matthew O'Brien (1814–1855) was an Irish mathematician.
Life and work O'Brien was born at Ennis (county Clare) son of a medical doctor., page 81. In 1830 he was admitted in the Trinity College, Dublin, and in 1834 in the Caius College (university of Cambridge) where he graduated in 1838 as third wrangler,, page 97. as pupil of William Hopkins., page 82. During a brief period (1840–1841) he was fellow of Caius College., page 169.
From 1844 to 1854 he was lecturer on Natural Philosophy and Mathematics at King's College London, he simultaneously held the post of lecturer on Astronomy in the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich., page 219.
O'Brien was the author of twenty mathematical papers and some elementary textbooks. His most notable contribution was in theory and application of the vector method,, page 83. in a set of papers published between 1846 and 1852., page 174. However, he did not finish fully developing the method because some of his theories were unsatisfactory,, page 335. and because he failed to include a treatment of associativity., page 100. His work was very innovative, but his ideas were almost completely ignored by his contemporaries., page 86.
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