He carried out his postgraduate studies in the Sapienza University of Rome under the direction of Professor Tullio Levi-Civita and was awarded his doctorate there in 1928.
That same year, he was the official Irish delegate to the International Congress of Mathematicians in Bologna,[1] where he gave an invited address on "The Torsion of Riemannian Space"[2] Upon returning to Trinity College, he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy (Physics) and was elected Fellow in 1930.
He later co-edited The Mathematical Papers of Sir William Rowan Hamilton: Volume 2, Dynamics (1940).
During his tenure he reformed the structures of Trinity, allowing more junior academics to hold offices such as Bursar, Senior Lecturer, and Registrar.
He also oversaw the reform allowing women to be elected as Fellows and Scholars of Trinity College and to be entitled to reside on campus.