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John Lighton Synge (; 23 March 1897 – 30 March 1995) was an Irish
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
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 ...
, whose seven-decade career included significant periods in Ireland, Canada, and the USA. He was a prolific author and influential mentor, and is credited with the introduction of a new geometrical approach to the
theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical ph ...
.


Background

Synge was born 1897 in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, Ireland, into a prominent Church of Ireland family. He attended St. Andrew's College, Dublin and in 1915 entered
Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...
(TCD). He was elected a Foundation Scholar his first year, which was unusual as it was normally won by more advanced students. While an undergraduate at TCD, he spotted a non-trivial error in ''
Analytical Dynamics In theoretical physics and mathematical physics, analytical mechanics, or theoretical mechanics is a collection of closely related formulations of classical mechanics. Analytical mechanics uses '' scalar'' properties of motion representing the sy ...
'', a textbook by E. T. Whittaker, who had recently taught there, and notified Whittaker of the error. In 1919 he was awarded a B.A. in Mathematics and Experimental Physics, and also a gold medal for outstanding merit. In 1922 he was awarded an M.A., and in 1926 a Sc.D., the latter upon submission of his published papers up to then. In 1918, Synge had married Elizabeth Eleanor Mabel Allen (1896–1985). She was another student at TCD, first of mathematics, then of history, but family finances forced her to leave without graduating. Their daughters Margaret (Pegeen), Cathleen and Isabel were born in 1921, 1923 and 1930 respectively. The middle girl grew up to become the distinguished Canadian mathematician Cathleen Synge Morawetz. Synge's uncle
John Millington Synge Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909), popularly known as J. M. Synge, was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, essayist, and collector of folklores. As an important driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, Ir ...
was a famous playwright. He is more distantly related to the 1952 Nobel prizewinner in chemistry
Richard Laurence Millington Synge Richard Laurence Millington Synge (28 October 1914 – 18 August 1994) was a British biochemist, and shared the 1952 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the invention of partition chromatography with Archer Martin. Life Richard Laurence Millington ...
. He was a great-great-great-grandson of the mathematician and bishop Hugh Hamilton.Florides (1996) His older brother, Edward Hutchinson Synge (1890-1957), who was known as Hutchie, also won a Foundation Scholarship in Trinity for Mathematics, though he never graduated. While Hutchie's later independent research was long overlooked, he is now recognised for his pioneering work in optics, particularly in near field optical imaging. He died on 30 March 1995 in Dublin.


Career in mathematics and physics

Synge was appointed to the position of lecturer at Trinity College, and then accepted a position at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
in 1920. From 1920 until 1925, Synge was an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Toronto. There he attended lectures by
Ludwik Silberstein Ludwik Silberstein (May 17, 1872 – January 17, 1948) was a Polish-American physicist who helped make special relativity and general relativity staples of university coursework. His textbook '' The Theory of Relativity'' was published by Macmill ...
on the
theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical ph ...
, stimulating him to contribute "A system of space-time co-ordinates", a letter in ''
Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...
'' in 1921. Synge returned to Trinity College Dublin, in 1925, where he was elected to a fellowship and was appointed the University Professor of
Natural Philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...
(the old name for
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
). He was a member of the
American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...
and the
London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's Learned society, learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh ...
. He was treasurer of the
Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...
in 1929. He went back to
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
in 1930, where he was appointed Professor of Applied Mathematics and became Head of the Department of Applied Mathematics. In 1940, he supervised three Chinese students, Guo Yonghuai, Chien Wei-zang and Chia-Chiao Lin, who later became leading applied mathematicians in China and the United States. He spent some of 1939 at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
, and in 1941, he was a visiting professor at
Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
. In 1943 he was appointed as Chairman of the Mathematics Department of
Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
. Three years later he became Head of the Mathematics Department of the
Carnegie Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...
in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
, where John Nash was one of his students. He spent a short time as a ballistic mathematician in the
US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
between 1944 and 1945. He returned to Ireland in 1948, accepting the position of Senior Professor in the School of Theoretical Physics at the
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) () is a statutory independent research institute in Dublin, Ireland. It was established, under the Institute For Advanced Studies Act 1940, by the government of the then Taoiseach, Éamon de Vale ...
. This school had been set up in 1940, and had several outstanding members, including
Erwin Schrödinger Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger ( ; ; 12 August 1887 – 4 January 1961), sometimes written as or , was an Austrian-Irish theoretical physicist who developed fundamental results in quantum field theory, quantum theory. In particul ...
(who contributed to
quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...
), who was also a Senior Professor.


His contributions

Synge made outstanding contributions to different fields of work including
classical mechanics Classical mechanics is a Theoretical physics, physical theory describing the motion of objects such as projectiles, parts of Machine (mechanical), machinery, spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. The development of classical mechanics inv ...
, general mechanics and
geometrical optics Geometrical optics, or ray optics, is a model of optics that describes light Wave propagation, propagation in terms of ''ray (optics), rays''. The ray in geometrical optics is an abstract object, abstraction useful for approximating the paths along ...
,
gas dynamics Compressible flow (or gas dynamics) is the branch of fluid mechanics that deals with flows having significant changes in fluid density. While all flows are compressible, flows are usually treated as being incompressible when the Mach number (the ...
,
hydrodynamics In physics, physical chemistry and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids – liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including (the study of air and other gases in ...
, elasticity, electrical networks, mathematical methods,
differential geometry Differential geometry is a Mathematics, mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of Calculus, single variable calculus, vector calculus, lin ...
, and
Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
's
theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical ph ...
. He studied an extensive range of mathematical physics problems, but his best known work revolved around using geometrical methods in
general relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity, and as Einstein's theory of gravity, is the differential geometry, geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of grav ...
. He was one of the first physicists to seriously study the interior of a
black hole A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. Th ...
, and his early work was cited by both Kruskal and Szekeres in their independent discoveries of the true (so-called maximal) structure of the
Schwarzschild black hole In Einstein's theory of general relativity, the Schwarzschild metric (also known as the Schwarzschild solution) is an exact solution to the Einstein field equations that describes the gravitational field outside a spherical mass, on the assumpti ...
. Synge's later derivation of the Szekeres-Kruskal metric solution, which was motivated by a desire to avoid "using 'bad' chwarzschildcoordinates to obtain 'good' zekeres-Kruskalcoordinates," has been generally under-appreciated in the literature, but was adopted by Chandrasekhar in his black hole monograph. In pure mathematics, he is perhaps best known for Synge's theorem, which concerns the topology of closed orientable
Riemannian manifold In differential geometry, a Riemannian manifold is a geometric space on which many geometric notions such as distance, angles, length, volume, and curvature are defined. Euclidean space, the N-sphere, n-sphere, hyperbolic space, and smooth surf ...
of positive
sectional curvature In Riemannian geometry, the sectional curvature is one of the ways to describe the curvature of Riemannian manifolds. The sectional curvature ''K''(σ''p'') depends on a two-dimensional linear subspace σ''p'' of the tangent space at a po ...
. When such a space is even-dimensional and
orientable In mathematics, orientability is a property of some topological spaces such as real vector spaces, Euclidean spaces, surfaces, and more generally manifolds that allows a consistent definition of "clockwise" and "anticlockwise". A space is o ...
, the theorem says it must be
simply connected In topology, a topological space is called simply connected (or 1-connected, or 1-simply connected) if it is path-connected and every Path (topology), path between two points can be continuously transformed into any other such path while preserving ...
. In odd dimensions, it instead says that such a space is necessarily orientable. He also created the game of Vish in which players compete to find circularity ( vicious circles) in dictionary
definitions A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definit ...
.


Fields Medal

While at Toronto, he was a colleague of John Charles Fields and acted as secretary to the 1924 International Mathematical Congress, which was hosted by Fields. Fields had been planning the creation of an award for mathematicians, however, when he became ill in 1932, Synge represented Fields at the 1932 International Mathematical Congress, where the medal was approved. After Fields's death, Synge completed arrangements with the sculptor of the medal, R. Tait McKenzie and oversaw the disbursement of Fields's estate. The award is now known as the
Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...
.


Honours

Synge received many honours for his works. He was elected as a fellow of the
Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...
in 1943. He was elected as a fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...
, and in 1943 was the first recipient of the society's Henry Marshall Tory Medal, as one of the first mathematicians working in Canada to be internationally recognised for his research in mathematics. In 1954 he was elected an honorary fellow of
Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...
. He was president of the
Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...
from 1961 until 1964. The Royal Society of Canada established the John L. Synge Award in his honour in 1986. John Lighton Synge retired in 1972. During his time at the
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) () is a statutory independent research institute in Dublin, Ireland. It was established, under the Institute For Advanced Studies Act 1940, by the government of the then Taoiseach, Éamon de Vale ...
, about 12% of all workers in the
relativity theory The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phe ...
studied there. Professor
Hermann Bondi Sir Hermann Bondi (1 November 1919 – 10 September 2005) was an Austrian-British people, British mathematician and physical cosmology, cosmologist. He is best known for developing the steady state model of the universe with Fred Hoyle and Thom ...
, who gave the first J. L. Synge Public Lecture in 1992, had this to say: "Every one of the other 88% has been deeply influenced by his geometric vision and the clarity of his expression". He was awarded the Boyle Medal by the Royal Dublin Society in 1972. During his long scientific career, Synge published over 200 papers and 11 books. He proved the result now known as Synge's theorem.


Selected publications

;Papers * * * * * * ;Books * 1931 ''The Mathematical Papers of Sir William Rowan Hamilton: Volume 1, Geometrical Optics''; Pub: Cambridge * 1937 ''Geometrical Optics: An Introduction to Hamilton's Method''; Pub: Cambridge * 1942 ''Geometrical Mechanics and de Broglie Waves''; Pub: Cambridge * 1942 ''Principles of Mechanics (with Byron A. Griffith)''; Pub: McGraw Hill * 1949 ''Tensor Calculus (with
Alfred Schild Alfred Schild (September 7, 1921 – May 24, 1977) was a leading Austrian American physicist, well known for his contributions to the Golden age of general relativity (1960–1975). Biography Schild was born in Istanbul on September 7, 1921. His ...
)'' Mathematical Exposition #5 from
University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calendar. Its first s ...
John DeCicco (1951
Review: J. L. Synge & Alfred Schild ''Tensor Calculus''
Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society The ''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'' is a quarterly mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society. Scope It publishes surveys on contemporary research topics, written at a level accessible to non-experts. ...
57(6):500-2 via
Project Euclid Project Euclid is a collaborative partnership between Cornell University Library and Duke University Press which seeks to advance scholarly communication in theoretical and applied mathematics and statistics through partnerships with independent a ...
* 1951 ''Science: Sense and Nonsense''; Pub: Norton / Jonathan Cape * 1952 ''Jump Conditions at Discontinuities in General Relativity (with Stephen O'Brien)''; Pub: DIAS (Communications of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies 9, Series A) * 1956 ''Relativity: The Special Theory''; Pub: North-Holland * 1956 ''Geometrical Optics in Moving Dispersive Media''; Pub: DIAS (Communications of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies 12, Series A) * 1957 ''The Relativistic Gas''; Pub: New Holland * 1957 ''The Hypercircle in Mathematical Physics''; Pub: Cambridge * 1957 ''Kandelman's Krim: A Realistic Fantasy''; Pub: Jonathan Cape * 1960 ''Relativity: The General Theory''; Pub: North-Holland * 1961 ''Notes on the Schwarzschild Line-Element'' (with Petros S. Florides); Pub: DIAS (Communications of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies 14, Series A) * 1964 ''The Petrov Classification of Gravitational Fields''; Pub: DIAS (Communications of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies 15, Series A) * 1970 ''Talking About Relativity''; Pub: North-Holland * 1972 ''Quaternions, Lorentz Transformations and the Conway-Dirac-Eddington Matrices''; Pub: DIAS (Communications of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies 21, Series A) * 1972 ''General Relativity: Papers in Honour of J. L. Synge'' (editor Lochlainn O'Raifeartaigh); Pub: Clarendon/Oxford


See also

* List of second-generation Mathematicians


References


Sources

* Florides (1996)
Prof John Lighton Synge, FRS, Obituary
by Petros Serghiou Florides, IMS Bulletin 37 (1996) * *
worldcat
*
worldcat


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Synge, John Lighton 1897 births 1995 deaths Academics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies Academics of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Honorary Fellows of Trinity College Dublin 20th-century Irish mathematicians Irish relativity theorists Presidents of the Royal Irish Academy Ohio State University faculty People educated at St Andrew's College, Dublin Scientists from County Dublin Scholars of Trinity College Dublin 20th-century Irish physicists Academic staff of the University of Toronto