John Edensor Littlewood: Difference between revisions
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Littlewood's collaborative work, carried out by correspondence, covered fields in [[Diophantine approximation]] and [[Waring's problem]], in particular. In his other work, he collaborated with [[Raymond Paley]] on [[Littlewood–Paley theory]] in [[Fourier transform|Fourier theory]], and with [[Cyril Offord]] in combinatorial work on random sums, in developments that opened up fields that are still intensively studied. |
Littlewood's collaborative work, carried out by correspondence, covered fields in [[Diophantine approximation]] and [[Waring's problem]], in particular. In his other work, he collaborated with [[Raymond Paley]] on [[Littlewood–Paley theory]] in [[Fourier transform|Fourier theory]], and with [[Cyril Offord]] in combinatorial work on random sums, in developments that opened up fields that are still intensively studied. |
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He worked with [[Mary Cartwright]] on problems in [[differential equations]] arising out of early research on [[radar]]: their work foreshadowed the modern theory of dynamical systems. [[Littlewood's 4/3 inequality]] on bilinear forms was a forerunner of the later [[Grothendieck]] [[tensor norm]] theory. |
He worked with [[Mary Cartwright]] on problems in [[differential equations]] arising out of early research on [[radar]]:<ref>{{cite book|last=Wolfram|first=Stephen|title=A New Kind of Science|publisher=Wolfram Media, Inc.|year=2002|page=[https://www.wolframscience.com/nks/notes-7-4--history-of-chaos-theory/ 971]|isbn=1-57955-008-8|url=https://www.wolframscience.com/nks/}}</ref> their work foreshadowed the modern theory of dynamical systems. [[Littlewood's 4/3 inequality]] on bilinear forms was a forerunner of the later [[Grothendieck]] [[tensor norm]] theory. |
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===With Hardy=== |
===With Hardy=== |
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Revision as of 19:19, 26 October 2020
John E. Littlewood Senior Berwick Prize (1960) | |
|---|---|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematician |
| Institutions | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Doctoral advisor | Ernest Barnes |
| Doctoral students | |
John Edensor Littlewood FRS (9 June 1885 – 6 September 1977) was an English mathematician. He worked on topics relating to analysis, number theory, and differential equations, and had a lengthy collaboration with G. H. Hardy and Mary Cartwright.
Biography
Littlewood was born on 9 June 1885 in Rochester, Kent, the eldest son of Edward Thornton Littlewood and Sylvia Maud (née Ackland). [1] In 1892, his father accepted the headmastership of a school in Wynberg, Cape Town, in South Africa, taking his family there.[2] Littlewood returned to England in 1900 to attend St Paul's School in London, studying under Francis Sowerby Macaulay, an influential algebraic geometer.[3]
In 1903, Littlewood entered the
Littlewood died on 6 September 1977.
Work
Most of Littlewood's work was in the field of
He coined Littlewood's law, which states that individuals can expect "miracles" to happen to them, at the rate of about one per month.
He continued to write papers into his eighties, particularly in analytical areas of what would become the theory of
Littlewood is also remembered for his book of reminiscences, A Mathematician's Miscellany (new edition published in 1986).
Among his own PhD students were
Littlewood's collaborative work, carried out by correspondence, covered fields in Diophantine approximation and Waring's problem, in particular. In his other work, he collaborated with Raymond Paley on Littlewood–Paley theory in Fourier theory, and with Cyril Offord in combinatorial work on random sums, in developments that opened up fields that are still intensively studied.
He worked with
With Hardy
Littlewood collaborated for many years with
He also, with Hardy, identified the work of the Indian mathematician
In a 1947 lecture, the Danish mathematician Harald Bohr said, "To illustrate to what extent Hardy and Littlewood in the course of the years came to be considered as the leaders of recent English mathematical research, I may report what an excellent colleague once jokingly said: 'Nowadays, there are only three really great English mathematicians: Hardy, Littlewood, and Hardy–Littlewood.' "[8] : xxvii
There is a
Cultural references
John Littlewood is depicted in two films covering the life of Ramanujan –
See also
- Critical line theorem
- Hardy–Littlewood circle method
- Hardy–Littlewood zeta-function conjectures
- Littlewood conjecture
- Littlewood polynomial
- Littlewood's three principles of real analysis
- Littlewood–Offord problem
- Littlewood's Tauberian theorem
- Hardy–Littlewood tauberian theorem
- Hardy–Littlewood maximal function[10]
- Littlewood subordination theorem
References
- ^ Burkill 1978, p. 322.
- ^ Burkill 1978, p. 324: "He later accepted the headmastership of a newly founded school at Wynberg near Cape Town, taking his family there in 1892."
- ^ Bateman & Diamond 1978, p. 28: "In 1900 he returned to England, where he attended St. Paul's School and studied with the talented teacher and mathematician F. S. Macaulay."
- ^ Bateman & Diamond 1978, pp. 28–29: "He began his research later that year on asymptotic formulas for integral functions of order zero, under his tutor and director of studies E. W. Barnes."
- ^ Bateman & Diamond 1978, p. 29: "Barnes proposed to Littlewood the task of proving the Riemann hypothesis ... he did not succeed in that strenuous assignment ..."
- ISBN 1-57955-008-8.
- ^ Hardy (June 1920), pp494–495.
- ^ )
- )
- JSTOR 2314249.
Bibliography
- Burkill, J. C. (1978). "John Edensor Littlewood. 9 June 1885–6 September 1977". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 24: 322–326. )
- Bateman, P; Diamond, P (1978). "John E. Littlewood (1885–1977) An Informal Obituary". )
Further reading
- Littlewood's Miscellany, edited by ISBN 0-521-33702-X (alternative title for A Mathematician's Miscellany)
External links
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "John Edensor Littlewood", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- John Edensor Littlewood at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Papers of Littlewood on Number Theory
- A Mathematicians Miscellany
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