E.W. Hobson
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Ernest William Hobson FRS (27 October 1856 – 19 April 1933) was an English
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 ...
, now remembered mostly for his books, some of which broke new ground in their coverage in English of topics from
mathematical analysis Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions, limit (mathematics), limits, and related theories, such as Derivative, differentiation, Integral, integration, measure (mathematics), measure, infinite sequences, series ( ...
. He was
Sadleirian Professor of Pure Mathematics The Sadleirian Professorship of Pure Mathematics, originally spelled in the statutes and for the first two professors as Sadlerian, is a professorship in pure mathematics within the DPMMS at the University of Cambridge. It was founded on a beques ...
at the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
from 1910 to 1931.


Life

He was born in
Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...
, and was educated at
Derby School Derby School was a school in Derby in the English Midlands from 1160 to 1989. It had an almost continuous history of education of over eight centuries. For most of that time it was a grammar school for boys. The school became co-educational a ...
, the
Royal School of Mines The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bioe ...
, and
Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...
, graduating
Senior Wrangler The Senior Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain". Specifically, it is the person who achiev ...
in 1878. He was the brother of the
economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
John A. Hobson John Atkinson Hobson (6 July 1858 – 1 April 1940) was an English economist and social scientist. Hobson is best known for his writing on imperialism, which influenced Vladimir Lenin, and his theory of underconsumption. His principal and e ...
. He became a Fellow of Christ's almost immediately after graduation. He made his way into research mathematics only gradually, becoming an expert in the theory of
spherical harmonics In mathematics and physical science, spherical harmonics are special functions defined on the surface of a sphere. They are often employed in solving partial differential equations in many scientific fields. The table of spherical harmonics co ...
. His 1907 work on
real analysis In mathematics, the branch of real analysis studies the behavior of real numbers, sequences and series of real numbers, and real functions. Some particular properties of real-valued sequences and functions that real analysis studies include co ...
was something of a watershed in the British mathematical tradition; and was lauded by
G. H. Hardy Godfrey Harold Hardy (7 February 1877 – 1 December 1947) was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. In biology, he is known for the Hardy–Weinberg principle, a basic principle of pop ...
.lms newsletter
 It included material on
general topology In mathematics, general topology (or point set topology) is the branch of topology that deals with the basic set-theoretic definitions and constructions used in topology. It is the foundation of most other branches of topology, including differ ...
and
Fourier series A Fourier series () is an Series expansion, expansion of a periodic function into a sum of trigonometric functions. The Fourier series is an example of a trigonometric series. By expressing a function as a sum of sines and cosines, many problems ...
that was topical at the time; and included mistakes that were noticed later (for example by R. L. Moore). From 1924 to 1927,
Robert Pollock Gillespie Robert Pollock Gillespie FRSE (1903–1977) was a Scottish mathematician. He was twice President of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society (1946–7 and 1968–9). He published several important books on mathematics. Life He was born on 21 November ...
studied under him. He is buried in the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, with his wife Seline, born 25 March 1860, died 10 June 1940, by whom he had four sons, one of whom Walter William (1894–1930) is buried with them in the same grave.


Works

* ''A Treatise on Trigonometry'' (1891)
''Theory of Functions of a Real Variable''
(1907) * * ** Vol. I, 3rd edition (1927) * '' Mathematics, from the points of view of the Mathematician and of the Physicist'' (1912)
''Squaring the Circle''
(1913)
''John Napier and the Invention of Logarithms, 1614''
(1914)
''The Domain of Natural Science''
(1923)
Gifford Lectures The Gifford Lectures () are an annual series of lectures which were established in 1887 by the will of Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford at the four ancient universities of Scotland: St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Their purpose is to "pro ...
* ''The Theory of Spherical and Ellipsoidal Harmonics'' (1931)


See also

* Tonelli–Hobson test *
Symmetry of second derivatives In mathematics, the symmetry of second derivatives (also called the equality of mixed partials) is the fact that exchanging the order of partial derivatives of a multivariate function :f\left(x_1,\, x_2,\, \ldots,\, x_n\right) does not change the ...
*
Squaring the circle Squaring the circle is a problem in geometry first proposed in Greek mathematics. It is the challenge of constructing a square (geometry), square with the area of a circle, area of a given circle by using only a finite number of steps with a ...


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobson, E.W. 1856 births 1933 deaths 20th-century English mathematicians Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge De Morgan Medallists English mathematicians Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society People educated at Derby School People from Derby Royal Medal winners Sadleirian Professors of Pure Mathematics Senior Wranglers Presidents of the Cambridge Philosophical Society