Michael Selwyn Longuet-Higgins FRS (8 December 1925 – 26 February 2016) was a British mathematician and oceanographer at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP),

Cambridge University 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 ...

, England and Institute for Nonlinear Science,

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

, USA. He was the younger brother of H. Christopher Longuet-Higgins. Longuet-Higgins introduced the theory of the origin of microseisms and is the inventor of "rhombo blocks", a mathematical toy consisting of blocks whose faces are

rhombus In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus (: rhombi or rhombuses) is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The rhom ...

es. Educated at The Pilgrims' School,

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

and

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

from 1937 to 1941 with

Freeman Dyson Freeman John Dyson (15 December 1923 – 28 February 2020) was a British-American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrix, random matrices, math ...

, his brother

Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...

and

James Lighthill Sir Michael James Lighthill (23 January 1924 – 17 July 1998) was a British applied mathematician, known for his pioneering work in the field of aeroacoustics and for writing the Lighthill report in 1973, which pessimistically stated t ...

from 1937 to 1943, he won a mathematics scholarship 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 ...

at the age of 17, where he graduated with a BA in mathematics in 1945 after only two years. He was awarded a doctorate in

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct i ...

in 1951. From 1969 to 1989 he was a

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 ...

Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. His research areas included both

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 ...

(

projective geometry In mathematics, projective geometry is the study of geometric properties that are invariant with respect to projective transformations. This means that, compared to elementary Euclidean geometry, projective geometry has a different setting (''p ...

polytopes In elementary geometry, a polytope is a geometric object with Flat (geometry), flat sides (''Face (geometry), faces''). Polytopes are the generalization of three-dimensional polyhedron, polyhedra to any number of dimensions. Polytopes may exist ...

, random functions and surfaces) and applied mathematics (

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 ...

, microseisms, the generation of ocean waves by wind, the dynamics of liquid bubbles,

sonoluminescence Sonoluminescence is the emission of light from imploding bubbles in a liquid when excited by sound. Sonoluminescence was first discovered in 1934 at the University of Cologne. It occurs when a sound wave of sufficient intensity induces a gaseo ...

, wave breaking, steep waves, and heat and gas exchange at the ocean surface).

Education and career

Michael was born in Lenham, Kent in England to Henry Hugh Longuet Longuet-Higgins and Albinia Cecil Bazeley. He had an elder sister Patricia (Pat) and an elder brother Hugh Christopher (

). He was educated at The Pilgrims' School,

and at

, together with

, his brother

, and

from 1937 to 1943. In 1943, at the age of 17, he won a scholarship in mathematics to

, where he qualified after just two years for a BA in mathematics in 1945. He was awarded a PhD in

in 1951. Towards the end of the

World War II 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 ...

(December 1943) he started working for the Admiralty Research Laboratory (ARL) in Teddington. He joined Group W (waves) set up on 5 June 1944 under

George Deacon Sir George Edward Raven Deacon CBE Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (21 March 1906 – 16 November 1984) was a UK, British oceanographer and chemist. Life He was born in Leicester, the son of George Raven Deacon and his wife Emma (né ...

. Here he helped predict wave and current conditions in preparation for the Pacific landings. He worked not only on the theory of

wind wave In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result of the wind blowing over the water's surface. The contact distance in the direction of the wind is ...

s but also on the geomagnetic induction of voltages by tidal streams, and on the generation of oceanic microseisms. In 1948 he returned to Cambridge, to read for a PhD but without a break in his research, just reporting to Sir Harold Jeffreys and later to Robert Stoneley at the end of each term. After being awarded his PhD in geophysics ("just a one hour interview which he almost forgot to attend") in 1951 at Cambridge, he was awarded a 4-year research fellowship (Title A) at Trinity College. The first year (1951–52) he spent in the US as a Commonwealth Fund Fellow, first at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and then at the

Scripps Institution of Oceanography Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is the center for oceanography and Earth science at the University of California, San Diego. Its main campus is located in La Jolla, with additional facilities in Point Loma. Founded in 1903 and incorpo ...

at La Jolla, California, with

Walter Munk Walter Heinrich Munk (October 19, 1917 – February 8, 2019) was an American physical oceanographer. He was one of the first scientists to bring statistical methods to the analysis of oceanographic data. Munk worked on a wide range of topics, i ...

. On his return to England in 1952, he spent two years of his research fellowship in Cambridge. Together with H. S. M. Coxeter and J. C. P. Miller he was first to publish the full list of uniform polyhedra (1954). He was invited to join the National Institute of Oceanography in Wormley, Surrey, in 1954 (renamed Institute of Oceanographic Science in 1973) then led by

, studying ocean waves and storm surges. He was elected as a Fellow of the

in 1963.Sajjadi, Shahrdad G.; Hunt, Julian C. R. (2018). "Michael Selwyn Longuet-Higgins. 8 December 1925—26 February 2016". ''

Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society The ''Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society'' is an academic journal on the history of science published annually by the Royal Society. It publishes obituaries of Fellows of the Royal Society. It was established in 1932 as ''Obi ...

''. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2017.0031 During this period "of thirteen happy and fruitful years" he had several visiting research appointments, including the Mathematics Department at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

(1957–58), the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

, Australia (1964) and the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

, San Diego (1961-2 and 1966-7). Between 1967 and 1969 he was Professor of Applied Mathematics and Oceanography at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

in Corvallis, Oregon. From 1969 to 1989 he served as a

Research Professor 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 ...

, working both in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMPT),

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 ...

, and at The National Institute of Oceanography, Wormley, Surrey. During this time he was also a visiting scientist at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

, Pasadena (1981–89) and adjunct professor at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

, Gainesville,(1981–87). After his "retirement" in Cambridge in 1989 he moved to California and worked at the La Jolla Institute in San Diego. In 1991, he was appointed to the Institute for Nonlinear Science,

(

UCSD The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing ...

) as a senior research physicist, and to the

with an adjunct professorship until his second "retirement" in 2001. After that he continued work at Scripps as a research physicist emeritus. He remained active in research, at conferences and served on many committees.

Honours and prizes

Michael Longuet-Higgins received many honours and was awarded several prizes including: * Cambridge University's Rayleigh Prize for Mathematics (1950) * Fellow of the Royal Society (1963) * Honorary doctorate of the Technical University of Copenhagen (1979) * Honorary doctorate of the University of Glasgow (1979) * Member of the US National Academy of Sciences (1979) * Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (1981) * Sverdrup Gold Medal of the

American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is a scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences. Its mission is to advance the atmosph ...

(1983) * International Coastal Engineering Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers (1984) * Oceanography Award of the Society for Underwater Technology (1990) * Honorary Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (2002)

Personal

Michael Longuet-Higgins was married to Joan Redmayne Tattersall on 12. December 1958. Together they had four children, Ruth, Mark, John and Anne all of whom were born in Guildford, England. The children were brought up during the first years in Godalming, England; Del Mar, Torry Pines and La Jolla, California; Corvallis, Oregon; Cambridge and Comberton in England.

Sources

* Of Seas and Ships and Scientists, Anthony Laughton et al. * Dynamics of Water Waves, Selected Papers of Michael Longuet-Higgins, editor S.G. Sajjadi.
MEMOIRS OF FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY: Michael Selwyn Longuet-Higgins. 8 December 1925—26 February 2016

Books

Chronological publications

Full List of Publications

1940 to 1949

1950 to 1959

1960 to 1969

1970 to 1979

1980 to 1989

1990 to 1999

2000 to 2009

2010 to 2016

Selected publications

* 1954: (with H. S. M. Coxeter and J. C. P. Miller) "Uniform Polyhedra",

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences'' is a fortnightly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Royal Society. It publishes original research and review content in a w ...

246: 401–50

References

Notes

Other

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Longuet-Higgins, Michael S. 1925 births 2016 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences British fluid dynamicists English mathematicians English oceanographers People educated at Winchester College Fellows of the Acoustical Society of America Fellows of the American Geophysical Union Sverdrup Gold Medal Award Recipients People from Lenham