Professor Joseph Langley Burchnall (8 December 1892 – 29 April 1975) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

who introduced the Burchnall–Chaundy theory.

Life

Burchnall was born in

Whichford Whichford is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, about southeast of Shipston-on-Stour. The parish adjoins the county boundary with Oxfordshire and the village is about north of the Oxfordshire town of Chipping Norton. The pa ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, the son of Walter Henry Burchnall, a schoolmaster, and Ann Newport. He was the eldest of six children. Around 1900 the family moved to Butterwick, and thereafter Joseph was educated at

Boston Grammar School The Boston Grammar School is an 11–18 boys selective grammar school and sixth form college located in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. By October 2021, a total of 812 pupils attending the school, 201 of which were in the sixth form provision ...

, then progressed to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

graduating BA in 1914 and MA (in absentia) in 1915. He had a distinguished military history during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

winning the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

in 1918 whilst serving in the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Artillery, Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse ...

. He was wounded three times and lost a leg in March 1918. After the war he joined

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

as a Reader in Mathematics then progressed to be a Lecturer. He became a professor in 1939 and continued this until retirement in 1959. He wrote many mathematical papers in conjunction with Theodore William Chaundy. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 1953. He was appointed an OBE in 1956 for services to education and the community. He was President of the Old Bostonian Association (his old school alumni) from 1967 to 1969. He died on 29 April 1975 in

Southwold, Suffolk Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the North Sea, in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, south ...

. He is buried in St Edmunds Church Cemetery in Southwold.

Family

He married Gertrude Frances Rollinson in 1917. They had two sons and one daughter.

References

* 1892 births 1975 deaths 20th-century English mathematicians People educated at Boston Grammar School Military personnel from Warwickshire British Army personnel of World War I Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Field Artillery officers English amputees Academics of Durham University Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People from Warwickshire People from the Borough of Boston Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford People from Southwold British scientists with disabilities {{UK-mathematician-stub