An Interview with Professor Anthony G. O'Farrell

This article consists of an interview with Prof. Anthony G. O’Farrell charting some of his mathematical and life’s journey over the past eight decades. It begins with his mathematical awakening in primary school in 1950s Ireland, through secondary school in Templemore and Drimnagh Castle, his undergraduate days in UCD via a Met Cadetship with the Met Office, and his postgraduate work in the US after receiving the NUI Travelling Studentship. It explores his return to take the first Professorship to ever be offered to a lay person in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth at the age of just 27 years. It touches on his subsequent 50 plus years of research in mathematics, in which he remains active to the current day, and his overall contribution to Irish mathematical life.