George Francis Carrier (May 4, 1918 – March 8, 2002) was an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

, and the T. Jefferson Coolidge

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...

of Applied Mathematics

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

. He was particularly noted for his ability to intuitively model a physical system and then deduce an analytical solution. He worked especially in the modeling of

fluid mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids ( liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces on them. It has applications in a wide range of disciplines, including mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical and ...

, combustion, and

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

s. Born in Millinocket, Maine, he received a master's in engineering degree in 1939 and a Ph.D. in 1944 from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

with a dissertation in applied mechanics entitled ''Investigations in the Field of Aeolotropic Elasticity and the Bending of the Sectorial-Plate'' under the supervision of J. Norman Goodier. He was co-author of a number of mathematical textbooks and over 100 journal papers. Carrier was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1953, the United States

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

in 1967, and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1976. In 1990, he received the

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...

, the United States' highest scientific award, presented by President Bush, for his contributions to the natural sciences. He died from

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse voi ...

on March 8, 2002.

Carrier's Rule

Carrier is known for "Carrier's Rule",J. P. Boyd, ''The Devil's Invention: Asymptotic, Superasymptotic and Hyperasymptotic Series'', Acta Applicandae Mathematicae: An International Survey Journal on Applying Mathematics and Mathematical Applications 56, 1-98 (1999
PDF of preprint
/ref> a humorous explanation of why divergent

asymptotic series In mathematics, an asymptotic expansion, asymptotic series or Poincaré expansion (after Henri Poincaré) is a formal series of functions which has the property that truncating the series after a finite number of terms provides an approximation to ...

often yield good approximations if the first few terms are taken even when the expansion parameter is of order one, while in the case of a convergent series many terms are needed to get a good approximation: “Divergent series converge faster than convergent series because they don't have to converge.”

References

Notes

Other

* *

Sources

''The Harvard Gazette Online''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carrier, George F. National Medal of Science laureates 20th-century American physicists 20th-century American mathematicians Cornell University College of Engineering alumni Fluid dynamicists Harvard University faculty 1918 births 2002 deaths People from Millinocket, Maine Deaths from esophageal cancer Deaths from cancer in Massachusetts Brown University faculty Members of the American Philosophical Society