Edward Routh
Edward Routh |
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Edward John Routh
Biography
Early life
Routh was born of an English father and a French-Canadian mother in
Routh came to England aged eleven and attended
Routh obtained his
Mathematics tutor
On graduation, Routh took up work as a private mathematics tutor in Cambridge and took on the pupils of
Routh worked conscientiously and systematically, taking rigidly timetabled classes of ten pupils during the day and spending the evenings preparing extra material for the ablest men.[5] "His lectures were enlivened by mathematical jokes of a rather heavy kind."[5]
Routh was a staunch defender of the Cambridge competitive system and despaired when the university started to publish examination results in alphabetical order, observing "They will want to run the Derby alphabetically next".[5]
Private life
Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy sought to entice Routh to work at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Though Airy did not succeed, at Greenwich Routh met Airy's eldest daughter Hilda (1840–1916) whom he married in 1864. At the time, the university had a celibacy requirement, forcing Routh to vacate his fellowship and move out of Peterhouse.[7] On the reformation of the college statutes, removing the celibacy requirement, Routh was the first person elected to an honorary fellowship by Peterhouse.[7] The couple had five sons and a daughter. Routh was a "kindly man and a good conversationalist with friends, but with strangers he was shy and reserved."[5]
Honours
- Fellow of the Royal Society, (1872);[5]
- Adams Prize, (1877).[5]
Work
Mechanics
Routh collaborated with
Routh noted the importance of what he called "absent coordinates," also known as cyclic coordinates or ignorable coordinates (following the terminology of E. T. Whittaker in his Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies). Such coordinates are associated with conserved momenta and as such are useful in problem solving.[8] Routh also devised a new method for solving problems in mechanics. Although Routh's procedure does not add any new insights, it allows for more systematic and convenient analysis, especially in problems with many degrees of freedom and at least some cyclic coordinates.[9][10]
Stability and control
In addition to his intensive work in teaching and writing, which had a persistent effect on the presentation of mathematical physics, he also contributed original research such as the Routh–Hurwitz theorem.
Central tenets of modern
Works
- Brougham, Henry; Routh, Edward John (1855). Analytical View of Sir Isaac Newton's Principia. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans.
- Routh, E. J. (1877). Treatise on the Stability of a Given State of Motion. MacMillan. Reprinted in 'Stability of Motion' (ed. A.T.Fuller) London 1975 (Taylor & Francis).
- — (1898). A Treatise on Dynamics of a Particle. With Numerous Examples. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- — (1905). The Elementary Part of a Treatise on the Dynamics of a System of Rigid Bodies: Being Part I of a Treatise on the Whole Subject. With Numerous Examples.
- — (1905). The Advanced Part of a Treatise on the Dynamics of a System of Rigid Bodies: Being Part II of a Treatise on the Whole Subject. With Numerous Examples. London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd.
- — (1909a). A Treatise on Analytical Statics with Numerous Examples Volume I. Cambridge University Press.
- — (1909b). A Treatise on Analytical Statics with Numerous Examples Volume II. Cambridge University Press.
References
- ^ a b c "Routh, Edward John (RT850EJ)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Edward Routh at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ a b c d e f O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Edward Routh", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 780.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35850. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 0950618101.
- ^ ISBN 978-0226873749.
- ISBN 978-0-486-65067-8.
- ISBN 0-201-02918-9.
- ISBN 0-7506-2896-0.
Further reading
Obituaries
- The Times, 8 June 1907 (available at O'Connor & Robertson (2003))
- Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, 2nd ser., 5 (1907), xiv–xx;
- Nature, 76 (1907), 200–02;
- Cambridge Review, 13 June 1907, 480–81;
- HHT, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 68 (1907–08), 239–41
About Routh
- S2CID 165040321.
- Fuller, A. T. (1977). "Edward John Routh". International Journal of Control. 26 (2): 169–73. .
- Sneddon, I. N. (1970–1990) "Routh, Edward John", in Gillispie, C. C. (ed.) Dictionary of Scientific Biography, New York: Charles Screibner's Sons
- ISBN 0-405-06622-8.
External links
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