Henry Keith Moffatt, 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". ...

(born 12 April 1935) is a British mathematician with research interests in the field of

fluid dynamics 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 motion ...

, particularly

magnetohydrodynamics In physics and engineering, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD; also called magneto-fluid dynamics or hydromagnetics) is a model of electrically conducting fluids that treats all interpenetrating particle species together as a single Continuum ...

and the theory of

turbulence In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between ...

. He was Professor of Mathematical Physics 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 1980 to 2002.

Early life and education

Moffatt was born on 12 April 1935 to Emmeline Marchant and Frederick Henry Moffatt''.'' He was schooled at

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eighteenth ...

, Edinburgh, going on to study Mathematical Sciences 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 ...

, graduating in 1957. He then went to

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 ...

, where he studied mathematics and, 1959, he was a Wrangler. In 1960, he was awarded a

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 ...

while preparing his PhD. He received his PhD in 1962; his dissertation, ''Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence'', was supervised by

George Batchelor George Keith Batchelor FRS (8 March 1920 – 30 March 2000) was an Australian applied mathematician and fluid dynamicist. He was for many years a professor of applied mathematics in the University of Cambridge, and was founding head of the ...

Career

After completing his PhD, Moffatt joined the staff of the Mathematics Faculty at the

as an Assistant Lecturer and became a Fellow of

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

. He was appointed a lecturer in 1964, and held the office of Tutor, then Senior Tutor, at Trinity between 1970 and 1976. In 1977 he was appointed to the Chair of Applied Mathematics at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

. He held this position until 1980 when he returned to Cambridge to take up the Chair in Mathematical Physics, renewing his Fellowship of Trinity College. In 2002 he was made an Emeritus Professor of the University (he remains a Fellow of Trinity). He held the ''Chaire Internationale de Recherche Blaise Pascal'' at the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

, Paris, from 2001–2003, and was

Leverhulme The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1925 under the will of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), with the instruction that its resources should be used to cover ...

Professor, 2003–2005. He was president of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from 2000 to 2004.

Publications

Moffatt has published more than 200 papers. He is the author or coauthor of books including: * 2nd ed., 1983. * He also co-edited * *

Honours and awards

Moffatt was elected

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 ...

in 1986,

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 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". ...

in 1988, Foreign Member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

in 1991, Member of Academia Europæa in 1994, Foreign Member of the

Académie des Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

, Paris, in 1998, Foreign Member of the

Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei The (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed"), anglicised as the Lincean Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. Founded in ...

, Rome, in 2001, Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

in 2003, and a foreign associate of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, 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 ...

in 2008. He became an officer in the

Palmes académiques Palmes is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Sir Brian Palmes, English landowner and politician * Sir Guy Palmes, English politician * Brian Palmes MP * Lieutenant General Francis Palmes * Major Billie Palmes * Captain Laurence P ...

in 1998. He received the Panetti-Ferrari International Prize and Gold Medal of the in 2001, the Euromech Prize for Fluid Mechanics in 2003, the Caribbean Award for Fluid Dynamics in 2004, the

Senior Whitehead Prize The Senior Whitehead Prize of the London Mathematical Society (LMS) is now awarded in odd numbered years in memory of John Henry Constantine Whitehead, president of the LMS between 1953 and 1955. The Prize is awarded to mathematicians normally r ...

of 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 ...

in 2005, and the

Hughes Medal The Hughes Medal is a silver-gilt medal awarded by the Royal Society 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. T ...

of the

Royal Society 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, re ...

in 2005.

Personal life

In 1960 he married Katharine (Linty), and together they had four children, two daughters and two sons, one of whom is deceased.

References

External links

Home page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moffatt, Keith Living people 1935 births Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge People educated at George Watson's College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Members of Academia Europaea Members of the French Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences David Crighton medalists British fluid dynamicists Cambridge mathematicians Fellows of the American Physical Society Journal of Fluid Mechanics editors