Thomas James Willmore (16 April 1919 – 20 February 2005) was an English geometrist. He is best known for his work on Riemannian 3-space and harmonic spaces. Willmore studied at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. After his graduation in 1939, he was appointed as a lecturer, but the onset of

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 ...

led him to working as a scientific officer at

RAF Cardington The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of the Royal Flying Corps ( ...

, working mainly on

barrage balloon A barrage balloon is a type of airborne barrage, a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe risk of collision with hostile aircraft, making the atta ...

defences. During the war, he found the time to write his Ph.D. on relativistic cosmology, and gained his Ph.D. on ''Clock regraduations and general relativity'' as an external student of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1943.

In 1946, he was given a lectureship at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

. He wrote an influential book with

Arthur Geoffrey Walker Arthur Geoffrey Walker FRS FRSE (17 July 1909 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England – 31 March 2001) was a British mathematician and professor of the University of Sheffield who made important contributions to physical cosmology. Although he ...

and HS Ruse entitled ''Harmonic Spaces'' in 1953. He left Durham in 1954 for 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 ...

to join Walker, after a supposed dispute between Willmore and a Durham colleague who refused to order German textbooks after being wounded in

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 ...

. In 1965, Willmore returned to Durham, where he was appointed Professor of Pure Mathematics. He was elected vice president 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 1977, a post he held for two years. During that time, he was elected a member of

The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB) is a non-governmental association that promotes and organises science and the arts in Belgium by coordinating the national and international activities of its constituent academies su ...

. Willmore retired from the

in 1984 after holding the position of Head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences on three separate occasions, covering most of his Professorship there. He was given an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

in 1994. A sculpture by Peter Sales was unveiled at the university 13 March 2012. It is entitled "Willmore Surface" and depicts a 4-lobed Willmore torus.University of Durham
News Item 29 Feb 2012

Books

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References

Sources

University News
Durham University, 24 February 2005

''The Times'', 3 May 2005
"A Passion for Mathematics"
by David Bomgardner, Durham University, 30 August 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Willmore, Tom English mathematicians Alumni of King's College London Academics of Durham University 1919 births 2005 deaths British geometers British textbook writers People from Gillingham, Dorset

Books

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References

Sources