John Macnaghten Whittaker
John Macnaghten Whittaker
Life
Whittaker was born 7 March 1905 in
He was educated at St Salvator's School in
In 1927 started his academic career as an assistant lecturer in Mathematics at Edinburgh University. In 1928 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Ralph Allan Sampson, Charles Glover Barkla, Sir Charles Galton Darwin and George James Lidstone.[4]
He was awarded a doctorate (DSc) in 1929, followed by a fellowship at
During the
After the war he returned to Liverpool, becoming Dean of Science, then in 1953 moved to Sheffield to take up the post of Vice-Chancellor of the university. During his office the University expanded from 2500 to 7000 students, requiring the appointment of many new staff and the construction of many buildings. However, he also had to oversee the first closure of an English university department, the Department of Mining. His office covered the centenary celebration of the University in 1955, including a visit by queen Elizabeth II. He retired from this position in 1965, and was honoured by being given the Freedom of the City of Sheffield.[1]
In retirement he expanded his other interests in art and archeology, collecting watercolours and Persian antiques. He died 29 January 1984.[1]
Family
In 1933 he married Iona Mhari Natalie Elliott: they had two sons.
Work and honours
There were early papers (1926–28) on quantum theory, but his main work was on complex analysis. J. M. Whittaker also made some significant development in the cardinal function theory of his father, E. T. Whittaker. In 1948 he won the Adams Prize, jointly with John Charles Burkill, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, and Walter Hayman. In 1949 J. M. Whittaker was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, an honour already held by his father – they were the only parent and child to have this simultaneously.[1]
Publications
- Interpolatory function theory. Cambridge University Press. 1935; vii+107 pp.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link)[5] 2nd edn. New York: Stechert-Hafner. 1964. - Series of Polynomials. Cairo: Fouad I University, Faculty of Science. 1943.
- Sur les Séries de Base de Polynomes Quelconques. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. 1949.
See also
References
- ^ .
- .
- ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
- .
Further reading
- "Times obituary". mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
External links
- "John Whittaker - Biography". Maths History. Retrieved 26 October 2020.