Shaw was born in
Dublin in 1821, to William and Elizabeth Shaw, and baptized in
St. Mary's Church, Dublin (
Church of Ireland). He graduated from
Trinity College Dublin (TCD) as Senior Moderator in Mathematics in 1844. He was elected a Fellow in 1848, and in 1890 became a Senior Fellow. Early in his career, he obtained permission to accept the appointment as the first Professor of Natural Philosophy at
Queen's College, Cork, in 1849, holding that post until 1854. But the bulk of his life was spent at TCD, where he served as Senior Dean and Registrar. In 1859, he became the first editor of
The Irish Times, though he only served in the role for a few months. He remained active in journalism, writing for
The Nation 1862–1866, ''Saunders' News Letter
and the Dublin Evening Mail''. ==References==