John Macnaghten Whittaker FRS

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". ...

LLD (7 March 1905 – 29 January 1984) was a British

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 ...

and Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

from 1953 to 1965.

Life

Whittaker was born 7 March 1905 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, the son of mathematician

Edmund Taylor Whittaker Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker (24 October 1873 – 24 March 1956) was a British mathematician, physicist, and historian of science. Whittaker was a leading mathematical scholar of the early 20th century who contributed widely to applied mathemat ...

and his wife, Mary Ferguson Macnaghten Boyd (grand-daughter of

Thomas Jamieson Boyd Sir Thomas Jamieson Boyd, (22 February 1818–22 August 1902) publisher and philanthropist, was Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1877 to 1882. He was the catalyst behind the building of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Lauriston Place. Life ...

). He was educated at St Salvator's School in

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

then

Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational private boarding and day school in Craigleith, Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed 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 ...

. He then studied Maths and Physics at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

from the age of 15, graduating MA in 1924. He followed this by three years at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, gaining a second MA in 1927. In 1927 started his academic career as an assistant lecturer in Mathematics at Edinburgh University. In 1928 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 ...

. His proposers were

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 ...

Charles Glover Barkla Charles Glover Barkla (7 June 1877 – 23 October 1944) was an English physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1917 for his discovery of characteristic X-rays. Life Barkla was born in Widnes, England, to John Martin Barkla, a sec ...

, Sir

Charles Galton Darwin Sir Charles Galton Darwin (19 December 1887 – 31 December 1962) was an English physicist who served as director of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) during the Second World War. He was a son of the mathematician George Darwin and a gr ...

and

George James Lidstone George James Lidstone FIA FSA FRSE (1870–1952) was a British actuary who made several contributions to the field of statistics. He is known for Lidstone smoothing and Lidstone series. He served as President of the Faculty of Actuaries from 19 ...

. He was awarded a doctorate (DSc) in 1929, followed by a fellowship at

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

, before becoming a professor of

pure mathematics Pure mathematics is the study of mathematical concepts independently of any application outside mathematics. These concepts may originate in real-world concerns, and the results obtained may later turn out to be useful for practical applications ...

Liverpool University The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University, it received Royal Charter by King Edward VII in 1903 attaining the de ...

in 1933. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served with the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

including time in the 8th Army on Field-Marshal Montgomery's staff in Egypt and Tunisia 1942/43. In 1944/45 he was Scientific Advisor to the Army Council and rose to the rank of Lt Colonel. After the war he returned to Liverpool, becoming Dean of Science, then in 1953 moved to

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

to take up the post of Vice-Chancellor of the university. During his office the University expanded from 2500 to 7000 students, requiring the appointment of many new staff and the construction of many buildings. However, he also had to oversee the first closure of an English university department, the Department of Mining. His office covered the centenary celebration of the University in 1955, including a visit by queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. He retired from this position in 1965, and was honoured by being given the Freedom of the City of Sheffield. In retirement he expanded his other interests in art and archeology, collecting watercolours and Persian antiques. He died 29 January 1984.

Family

In 1933 he married Iona Mhari Natalie Elliott: they had two sons.

Work and honours

There were early papers (1926–28) on quantum theory, but his main work was on

complex analysis Complex analysis, traditionally known as the theory of functions of a complex variable, is the branch of mathematical analysis that investigates functions of complex numbers. It is helpful in many branches of mathematics, including algebraic ...

. J. M. Whittaker also made some significant development in the

cardinal function In mathematics, a cardinal function (or cardinal invariant) is a function that returns cardinal numbers. Cardinal functions in set theory * The most frequently used cardinal function is the function that assigns to a set ''A'' its cardinality, ...

theory of his father,

E. T. Whittaker Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker (24 October 1873 – 24 March 1956) was a British mathematician, physicist, and historian of science. Whittaker was a leading mathematical scholar of the early 20th century who contributed widely to applied mathemat ...

. In 1948 he won the

Adams Prize The Adams Prize is a prize awarded each year by the Faculty of Mathematics at St John's College to a UK-based mathematician for distinguished research in mathematical sciences. The prize is named after the mathematician John Couch Adams and wa ...

, jointly with

John Charles Burkill John Charles Burkill (1 February 1900 – 6 April 1993) was an English mathematician who worked on analysis and introduced the Burkill integral. Career Burkill was born in Holt, Norfolk, and educated at St Paul's School and Trinity College, ...

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (; 19 October 1910 – 21 August 1995) was an Indian Americans, Indian-American theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to the scientific knowledge about the structure of stars, stellar evolution and ...

, and

Walter Hayman Walter Kurt Hayman FRS (formerly Haymann; 6 January 1926 – 1 January 2020) was a British mathematician known for contributions to complex analysis. He was a professor at Imperial College London. Life and work Hayman was born in Cologne, Ger ...

. In 1949 J. M. Whittaker was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

, an honour already held by his father – they were the only parent and child to have this simultaneously.

Publications

* * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whittaker, John Macnaghten 1905 births 1984 deaths Military personnel from Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society 20th-century English mathematicians Mathematicians from Cambridge People educated at Fettes College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Sheffield Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery officers Vice-chancellors of the University of Sheffield