In 1826, a perplexing sex scandal engulfed the career of the rising Irish-American mathematician Michael O'Shannessy, a professor at the Albany Academy, a prestigious college-preparatory school in Albany, New York. There is much that we do not know about O'Shannessy and probably never will. We do know that the floodwaters that immersed the mathematician lifted the early careers of two figures who would be remembered: the scientist Joseph Henry and the engineer William H. Sidell. We know that O'Shannessy was educated in Ireland, and was hired as a York of such quality, and O'Shannessy must have thought himself fortunate to be immersed in its waters. But a fatal wave was heading for him. At the time, O'Shannessy was the only faculty member with an Irish name. Union College, in nearby Sche-nectady, awarded him an honorary master's degree at their 1820 commencement ceremony; thereafter, he would affix "A.M."-Artium Magister, or Master of Arts-to his name.
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