Prof Edward Lindsay Ince

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(30 November 1891 – 16 March 1941) was a British mathematician who worked on differential equations, especially those with periodic coefficients such as the

Mathieu equation In mathematics, Mathieu functions, sometimes called angular Mathieu functions, are solutions of Mathieu's differential equation : \frac + (a - 2q\cos(2x))y = 0, where are real-valued parameters. Since we may add to to change the sign of , i ...

and the

Lamé equation Lamé may refer to: *Lamé (fabric) Lamé ( ; ) is a type of fabric Woven fabric, woven or Knitted fabric, knit with threads made of metallic fiber wrapped around natural or synthetic fibers like silk, nylon, or spandex for added strength an ...

. He introduced the Ince equation, a generalization of the

Life

He was born in

Amblecote Amblecote is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately north of the historic town of Stourbridge on the southwestern edge of the West Midlands conurbation. Histori ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

on 30 November 1891, the only son of Caroline Clara Cutler and her husband Edward Ince, an

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

officer. The family moved to

Criccieth Criccieth, also spelled Cricieth (), is a town and community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, Wales, on the boundary between the Llŷn Peninsula and Eifionydd. The town is west of Porthmadog, east of Pwllheli and south of Caernarfon. It had a ...

near Portmadoc in Wales soon after he was born. His family moved to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

in Scotland around 1901, living at 6 Queens Avenue in the Craigie district, to the south-west of the city. He attended

Perth Academy Perth Academy is a state comprehensive secondary school in Perth, Scotland. It was founded in 1696. The institution is a non-denominational one. The school occupies ground on the side of a hill in the Viewlands area of Perth, and is within the P ...

. He studied mathematics at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

from 1909, graduating in 1913. Failing the medical for

World War I 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 ...

service, he won a scholarship and went to 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 ...

where he graduated with an MA, and won the

Smith's Prize Smith's Prize was the name of each of two prizes awarded annually to two research students in mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1769. Following the reorganization in 1998, they are now awarded under the names ...

in 1918. That same year he obtained a DSc from the University of Edinburgh. He then began lecturing in mathematics at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

In 1920 he moved to the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

. He was elected to 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 1923. His proposers were Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker, David Gibb,

Arthur Crichton Mitchell Alexander Crichton Mitchell FRSE (1 July 1864 – 15 April 1952), named in some sources as Arthur Crichton Mitchell, was a Scottish physicist with a special interest in geomagnetics who worked for many years in India as a professor and head of a ...

and

Ralph Allan Sampson Ralph Allan (or Allen) Sampson FRS FRSE LLD (25 June 1866 – 7 November 1939) was a British astronomer. Life Sampson was born in Schull, County Cork in Ireland, then part of the UK. He was the fourth of five children to James Sampson, a Cor ...

. The Society awarded him the Makdougall Brisbane Prize for 1938–1940 for his work on periodic Lamé functions but he died before he received the award. In 1926 he made a dramatic move, and accepted a professorship at the Egyptian University in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. With a young family, and health problems arising from the

extreme heat A heat wave or heatwave, sometimes described as extreme heat, is a period of abnormally hot weather generally considered to be at least ''five consecutive days''. A heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the area and ...

, he returned to Britain in 1931 to take a post at the

for one year then spent two years at

Imperial College, London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

before returning to Edinburgh permanently in 1935. He died in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on 16 March 1941.

Family

In 1923 he married Phyllis Fry. They had two daughters, Monica and Elizabeth. Monica Hughes(OC) went on to become a renowned author of children's and young adult books.

Publications

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References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ince, Edward Lindsay English mathematicians Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 1891 births 1941 deaths People educated at Perth Academy People from Worcestershire People from Criccieth People from Perth, Scotland Academics of the University of Leeds