Edmund Whittaker | |
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 A 1933 portrait of Whittaker byArthur Trevor Haddon titledSir Edmund Taylor Whittaker | |
| Born | (1873-10-24)24 October 1873 Southport,Lancashire, England |
| Died | 24 March 1956(1956-03-24) (aged 82) George Square, Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
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| Spouse | Mary Ferguson Macnaghten Boyd |
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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 toapplied mathematics and was renowned for his research inmathematical physics andnumerical analysis, including the theory ofspecial functions, along with his contributions to astronomy,celestial mechanics, thehistory of physics, anddigital signal processing.
Among the most influential publications inWhittaker's bibliography, he authored several popular reference works in mathematics, physics, and the history of science, includingA Course of Modern Analysis (better known asWhittaker and Watson),Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies, andA History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity. Whittaker is also remembered for his role in therelativity priority dispute, as he creditedHenri Poincaré andHendrik Lorentz with developingspecial relativity in the second volume of hisHistory, a dispute which has lasted several decades, though scientific consensus has remained with Einstein.
Whittaker served as theRoyal Astronomer of Ireland early in his career, a position he held from 1906 through 1912, before moving on to the chair of mathematics at theUniversity of Edinburgh for the next three decades and, towards the end of his career, received theCopley Medal and was knighted. The School of Mathematics of the University of Edinburgh holds The Whittaker Colloquium, a yearly lecture, in his honour and theEdinburgh Mathematical Society promotes an outstanding young Scottish mathematician once every four years with theSir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize, also given in his honour.
Edmund Taylor Whittaker was born inSouthport, inLancashire, the son of Selina Septima (née Taylor) and John Whittaker.[3] He was described as an "extremely delicate child", necessitating his mother to home school him until he was 11 years old, when he was sent off toManchester Grammar School.[8]Ernest Barker, a classmate of Whittaker's at the Grammar School with whom he shared the office ofprefect, later recalled his personality: "He had a gay, lively, bubbling spirit: he was ready for every prank: he survives in my memory as a natural actor; and I think he could also, on occasion, produce a merry poem."[9] While at the school, Whittaker studied on the "classical side", devoting three-fifths of his time to Latin and Greek.[8] Whittaker struggled with the poetry and drama which was required by the upper school, and expressed gratitude for being allowed to leave these studies behind and specialise in mathematics.[8]
In December 1891 Whittaker received an entrance scholarship toTrinity College, Cambridge.[1][8] After completing his education at the Manchester Grammar School he went on to study mathematics and physics there from 1892 to 1895.[10] He entered Trinity College as a minor scholar in October 1892 to study mathematics.[11] Whittaker was the pupil ofAndrew Russell Forsyth andGeorge Howard Darwin while at Trinity College and received tutoring throughout his first two years.[12] With an interest more in applied than pure mathematics, Whittaker won the Sheepshanks Astronomical Exhibition in 1894 as an undergraduate.[12] He graduated asSecond Wrangler in theCambridge Tripos examination in 1895.[13] TheSenior Wrangler that year wasThomas John I'Anson Bromwich and Whittaker tiedJohn Hilton Grace for second, all three along with three other participants, includingBertram Hopkinson, went on to be elected Fellows of the Royal Society.[1] He also received theTyson Medal for Mathematics and Astronomy in 1896.[14]
Whittaker was a fellow ofTrinity College, Cambridge from 1896 to 1906 when he was appointedAndrews Professor of Astronomy atTrinity College Dublin and Royal Astronomer of Ireland. He held these posts until 1912, when he was appointed chair of mathematics at theUniversity of Edinburgh, a role he went on to hold for just over a third of a century. Throughout his career, he wrote papers on automorphic functions and special functions in pure mathematics as well as on electromagnetism, general relativity, numerical analysis and astronomy in applied mathematics and physics, and was also interested in topics in biography, history, philosophy and theology.[8] He also made several important innovations in Edinburgh that had a large impact on mathematical education and societies there.[15]
In 1896, Whittaker was elected as a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and remained at Cambridge as a teacher until 1906. In 1897, Whittaker was awarded theSmith Prize for his work on the paper "On the connexion of algebraic functions with automorphic functions", published in 1888.[13]
In 1902, Whittaker found a general solution toLaplace's equation, which received popular news coverage as a "remarkable discovery", though the mathematicianHorace Lamb noted that it did not offer any new features.[16] He also wrote several celebrated books in his early career, publishingA Course of Modern Analysis in 1902 and following it up withA Treatise on the Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies just two years later in 1904. In September of that year, Whittaker was forced to sell sixsilver forks at an auction to pay back taxes which he had previously refused to pay due to theEducation Act 1902 requiring citizens to pay taxes to fund local Christian schools, such as theRoman Catholic Church and theChurch of England.[17]
Prior to being compelled by a magistrate to repay the tax burden, Whittaker was one of several activists who engaged inpassive resistance by refusing to pay the taxes.[17] In 1905, Whittaker was elected as afellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his achievements.[2]
In 1906, Whittaker was appointedAndrews Professor of Astronomy atTrinity College Dublin, which came with the titleRoyal Astronomer of Ireland.[2] He succeededCharles Jasper Joly at the post and was appointed upon recommendation from the astronomerRobert Stawell Ball.[18]
Ball's recommendation, which was published in a collection of his letters in 1915, stated that Whittaker was the only person he knew who could "properly succeed Joly" and that the role would "suit him in every way".[19][18] He then describes Whittaker as "modest" and "charming" and as "a man who has infinite capacity for making things go". Ball said Whittaker was a world-leading expert in theoretical astronomy and that, in relation to Whittaker's discovery of a general solution toLaplace's equation, notes that he "has already made one discovery which the greatest mathematician of the last two centuries would be proud to have placed to his credit".[19][18]
The Royal Astronomers acted as directors for theDunsink Observatory, which used outdated astronomy equipment; it was understood that the primary responsibility of the role was to teach mathematical physics at Trinity College.[2][20] During this time, the relative leisure of his post allowed him to complete the reading required to write his third major bookA History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity, from the age of Descartes to the close of the nineteenth century.[21] Also during this time, he wrote the bookThe Theory of Optical Instruments, published six astronomy papers, and published collected astronomical observations.[18]
Whittaker became Professor of Mathematics at theUniversity of Edinburgh in January 1912, where he remained for the rest of his career.[2][20] The role was left vacant by the death of his predecessor,George Chrystal in 1911.[20] He was elected as a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh in 1912, after being nominated byCargill Gilston Knott,Ralph Allan Sampson,James Gordon MacGregor andSir William Turner. He served as Secretary to the Society from 1916 to 1922, the Vice President from 1925 to 1928 and from 1937 to 1939, and was President of the Society from 1939 to 1944, through the war years.[3] Whittaker began holding "research lectures" in mathematics at the university, typically given twice a week.[22] He was said to be a great lecturer by one of his previous attendees, who stated that his "clear diction, his felicity of language and his enthusiasm could not fail to evoke a response" and that he was very good with illustrations.[23][24]
Freeman Dyson commented on Whittaker's lecture style by saying that students were "warmed, not only by the physical presence of a big crowd packed together, but by the mental vigour and enthusiasm of the old man".[25] Whittaker's efforts helped transform theEdinburgh Mathematical Society from a teachers society to an academic research society and was a major driving force in introducingcomputational mathematics education to the UK and America.[15]
Shortly after coming toEdinburgh, Whittaker established the Edinburgh Mathematical Laboratory, one of the UK's first mathematical laboratories.[26] The laboratory was the first attempt of a systematic treatment ofnumerical analysis in Great Britain and friends of Whittaker have said he believes it his most notable contribution to the education of mathematics.[26] Subjects taught at the laboratory includedinterpolation, themethod of least squares,systems of linear equations,determinants,roots oftranscendental equations, practicalFourier analysis,definite integrals, andnumerical solution of differential equations.[22] The laboratory program was so successful, it resulted in many requests for an extra summer course to allow others to attend who previously were unable, ultimately leading to the establishment of a colloquium through theEdinburgh Mathematical Society. In 1913, Whittaker established theEdinburgh Mathematical Society Colloquium and the first was held over five days in August of that year.[22]
The textbookThe calculus of observations was compiled from courses given at the Laboratory over a ten-year period; the book was well received and ultimately went through four editions.[27]
Outside of the Royal Astronomer of Ireland and his roles in the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Whittaker held several notable academic posts, including president of theMathematical Association from 1920 through 1921, president of the Mathematical and Physical Section (Section A) of theBritish Science Association in 1927, and was president of theLondon Mathematical Society from 1928 through 1929.[28] Whittaker also held theGunning Victoria Jubilee Prize Lectureship for "his service to mathematics" with theRoyal Society of Edinburgh from 1924 through 1928.[29]
He was elected either Honorary Fellow or Foreign Member in a number of academic organisations, including theAccademia dei Lincei in 1922, the Societa Reale di Napoli in 1936, theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1944, theAcadémie royale de Belgique in 1946, theFaculty of Actuaries in 1918, the Benares Mathematical Society in 1920, theIndian Mathematical Society in 1924, and theMathematical Association in 1935. In 1956, he was elected as a corresponding member of the Geometry section of theFrench Academy of Sciences a few days before his death.[4] Whittaker was also awarded honorary doctorates from several universities, including twoLLDs from theUniversity of St Andrews in 1926 and theUniversity of California in 1934, anScD from theTrinity College Dublin in 1906, and twoD.Sc.s from theNational University of Ireland in 1939 andUniversity of Manchester in 1944.[2]
Whittaker published many works on philosophy and theism in the last years of his career and during his retirement in addition to his work on the second edition ofA History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity. He released two books on Christianity and published several books and papers on the philosophy ofArthur Eddington.[30]
Whittaker was aChristian and became a convert to theRoman Catholic Church in 1930.[18] In relation to that,Pope Pius XI awarded him with thePro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 1935 and appointed him to thePontifical Academy of Sciences in 1936.[5] He was a member of the academy from 1936 onward and served as Honorary President of theNewman Society from 1943 to 1945.[4] Whittaker published two book-length works on the topic of Christianity, includingThe beginning and end of the world andSpace and spirit.[31] The first of which was the result of the 1942 Riddell Memorial Lectures at Durham while the second is based on his 1946Donnellan Lecture atTrinity College Dublin.[32] It has been remarked by physics historianHelge Kragh,[33] that in these books, Whittaker was "the only physical scientist of the first rank" who defended the strong entropic creation argument, which holds that asentropy always increases, the Universe must have started at a point of minimum entropy, which they argue implies the existence of a god.[31] Whittaker published several articles which draw connections between science, philosophy and theism between 1947 and 1952 in the BBC magazineThe Listener, one of whichReligion and the nature of the universe was republished inAmericanVogue, making him "a rare, if not unique, example of a man whose published work not only crossed disciplinary boundaries, but was published everywhere fromNature toVogue."[28]
Whittaker retired from his position as chair of the mathematics department at theUniversity of Edinburgh in September 1946, a role he held for over 33 years.[34] He was awardedemeritus professor status at the university which he retained until his death.[20] In retirement, Whittaker worked tirelessly on the second edition of hisA History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity, releasingThe Classical Theories just a few years later.[5] He also continued publishing works in philosophy and theism.James Robert McConnell noted that Whittaker's research in the connection between physics and philosophy spanned nearly forty publications written over his last 15 years.[35] During the three years prior to the publication of second volume of hisHistory, Whittaker had already determined that he was going to give priority for the discovery of special relativity toHenri Poincaré andHendrik Lorentz in the new book.[36]Max Born, a friend of Whittaker's, wrote a letter to Einstein in September 1953 explaining that he had done all he could over the previous three years to convince Whittaker to change his mind about Einstein's role, but Whittaker was resolved in the idea and, according to Born, he "cherished" and "loved to talk" about it.[36] Born told Einstein that Whittaker insists that all the important features were developed by Poincaré while Lorentz "quite plainly had the physical interpretation", which annoyed Born as Whittaker was a "great authority in the English speaking countries" and he was worried that Whittaker's view would influence others.[36]
Whittaker died at his home, 48George Square, Edinburgh, on 24 March 1956.[37] He was buried at Mount Vernon Cemetery in Edinburgh, with "mathematical precision at a depth of 6 ft. 6 inches", according to the cemetery register.[28] His entry in theBiographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society was written byGeorge Frederick James Temple in November 1956.[2] He received published obituaries fromAlexander Aitken,[38]Herbert Dingle,[39]Gerald James Whitrow,[32] andWilliam Hunter McCrea,[40] among others.[41][23] His house was owned by the University of Edinburgh and was demolished in the 1960s to expand the campus, and now holds the William Robertson Building.[42]
In 1901, while at Cambridge, he married Mary Ferguson Macnaghten Boyd, the daughter of aPresbyterian minister and granddaughter ofThomas Jamieson Boyd.[2] They had five children, two daughters and three sons including the mathematicianJohn Macnaghten Whittaker (1905–1984).[5] His elder daughter, Beatrice, marriedEdward Taylor Copson, who would later become Professor of Mathematics at theUniversity of St Andrews.[43]
George Frederick James Temple noted that Whittaker's home inEdinburgh was "a great centre of social and intellectual activity where liberal hospitality was dispensed to students of all ages",[2] and went on to note that Whittaker had a happy home life and was well loved by his family.[2] Whittaker kept a piano in his home which he did not know how to play, but enjoyed listening to friends play when they would come to visit.[5] Whittaker was also known to take a personal interest in his students and would invite them to social gatherings at his house.[5][23] He also continued to keep track of his Honours students over the years.[5] His home was also the location of many unofficial interviews that would have a large impact on a student's future career.[23] After his death,William Hunter McCrea described Whittaker as having a "quick wit" with an "ever-present sense of humour" and being "the most unselfish of men with a delicate sense of what would give help or pleasure to others".[40] He notes that Whittaker had a "vast number of friends" and that he "never missed an opportunity to do or say something on behalf of any one of them".[40]
In addition to his textbooks and other works, several of which remain in print, Whittaker is remembered for his research inautomorphic functions,numerical analysis,harmonic analysis, andgeneral relativity. He has several theorems and functions named in his honour. In June 1958, two years after his death, an entire issue of theProceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society was dedicated to his life and works.[44] The volume included an article byRobert Alexander Rankin on Whittaker's work onautomorphic functions,[45] an article on Whittaker's work onnumerical analysis byAlexander Aitken,[20] his work onHarmonic functions was covered in an article by Temple,[46]John Lighton Synge wrote about his contributions to thetheory of relativity,[47] andJames Robert McConnell wrote about Whittaker's philosophy.[35] Among others, Whittaker coined the termscardinal function andMathieu function.[48] The School of Mathematics of theUniversity of Edinburgh holds the annual Whittaker Colloquium in his honour.[6][49] Funded by a donation from his family in 1958, theEdinburgh Mathematical Society promotes an outstanding young Scottish mathematician once every four years with theSir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize, also given in his honour.[50]
Whittaker is theeponym of theWhittaker function or Whittaker integral, in the theory ofconfluent hypergeometric functions.[51] This makes him also the eponym of theWhittaker model in the local theory ofautomorphic representations.[52] He published also onalgebraic functions, though they were typically limited to special cases.[20] Whittaker had a lifelong interest inautomorphic functions and he published three papers on the topic throughout his career.[53] Among other contributions, he found the generalexpression for theBessel functions asintegrals involvingLegendre functions.[51]
Whittaker also made contributions to the theory ofpartial differential equations,harmonic functions and other special functions of mathematical physics, including finding a general solution toLaplace's equation that became a standard part ofpotential theory.[54] Whittaker developed a general solution of theLaplace equation inthree dimensions and the solution of thewave equation.[55]
Whittaker wrote three scientifictreatises which were highly influential,A Course of Modern Analysis,Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies, andThe Calculus of Observations.[56] In 1956,Gerald James Whitrow stated that two of them not only were required reading for British mathematicians, but were regarded as fundamental components of their personal libraries.[32] Despite the success of these books and his other researchers and their influence in mathematics and physics, the second edition of Whittaker'sA History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity has been called his "magnum opus".[5][32][20] In reference to the title's popularity,William Hunter McCrea predicted that future readers would have a hard time acknowledging it was the result of just "a few years at both ends of a career of the highest distinction in other pursuits."[57]
Whittaker also wroteThe theory of optical instruments during his time asRoyal Astronomer of Ireland as well as several books on philosophy and theism.[56] Whittaker's bibliography in theBiographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society includes 11 books and monographs, 56 mathematics and physics articles, 35 philosophy and history articles, and 21 biographical articles, excluding popular and semi-popular articles published in magazines such asScientific American.[48] In the bibliography compiled by McCrea in 1957, there are 13 books and monographs and the same journal articles, also excluding popular articles.[58] Among other topics, Whittaker wrote a total of ten papers onelectromagnetism andgeneral relativity.[47]
Whittaker was the original author of the classic textbookA Course of Modern Analysis, first published in 1902.[59] There were three more editions of the book all in collaboration withGeorge Neville Watson, resulting in the famous colloquial nameWhittaker & Watson. The work is subtitledan introduction to the general theory of infinite processes and of analytic functions; with an account of the principal transcendental functions and is a classic textbook inmathematical analysis, remaining in print continuously since its release over a hundred years ago.[43] It covered topics previously unavailable in English, such ascomplex analysis,mathematical analysis, and theSpecial functions used inmathematical physics.[56]George Frederick James Temple noted that it was unmatched in these aspects "for many years".[56] The book was an edited set of lecture notes from theCambridge Tripos courses Whittaker taught and contained results from mathematicians such asAugustin-Louis Cauchy andKarl Weierstrass which were relatively unknown to English speaking countries.[60]A. C. Aitken noted the books have been widely influential in the study ofspecial functions and their associateddifferential equations as well as in the study of functions ofcomplex variables.[20]
Whittaker's second major work,A Treatise on the Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies was first published in 1904, and quickly became a classic textbook inmathematical physics andanalytical dynamics, a branch ofclassical mechanics.[61] It has remained in print for most of its lifetime, over more than a hundred years, and has been said to have "remarkable longevity".[61] The book represented the forefront of development at the time of publication, where many reviewers noted it contained material otherwise non-existent in the English language.[61] The book was a landmark textbook, providing the first systematic treatment in English for the theory ofHamiltonian dynamics, which played a fundamental role in the development ofquantum mechanics.[60]A. C. Aitken called the book "epoch making in a very precise sense", noting that just before the development of thetheory of relativity, the book provided a detailed summary of classical dynamics and the progress that had been made inLagrangian mechanics andHamiltonian mechanics, including work fromHenri Poincaré andTullio Levi-Civita.[20] The book has received many recommendations, including fromVictor Lenzen in 1952, nearly 50 years after its initial publication, who said the book was still the "best exposition of the subject on the highest possible level".[62] It was noted in a 2014 article covering the book's development, published in theArchive for History of Exact Sciences, that the book was used for more than just a historical book, where it was pointed out that of the 114 books and papers that cited the book between 2000 and 2012, "only three are of a historical nature".[61] In that same period, the book was said to be "highly recommended to advanced readers" in the 2006 engineering textbookPrinciples of Engineering Mechanics.[63]
In 1910, Whittaker wroteA History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity,[64] which gave a detailed account of theaether theories fromRené Descartes toHendrik Lorentz andAlbert Einstein, including the contributions ofHermann Minkowski. The book was well received and established Whittaker as a respected historian of science.[65] A second, revised and extended edition was later released. The first volume, subtitledthe classical theories, was published in 1951[66] and served as a revised and updated edition of the first book. The second volume, published in 1953,[67] extended this work covering the years 1900–1926. Notwithstanding a notorious controversy on Whittaker's views on the history ofspecial relativity, covered in volume two of the second edition, the books are considered authoritative references on the history of classical electromagnetism[68] and are consideredclassic books in thehistory of physics.[69] Due to the book's role in therelativity priority dispute, however, the second volume is cited far less than the first volume and first edition, except in connection with the controversy.[70]
Whittaker is also remembered for his role in therelativity priority dispute, a historical controversy over credit for the development ofspecial relativity. In a chapter named "The Relativity Theory of Poincaré and Lorentz" in the second volume of the second edition ofA History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity, Whittaker creditedHenri Poincaré andHendrik Lorentz for developing the theory; he attributed relatively little importance to Einstein'sspecial relativity paper, saying it "set forth the relativity theory of Poincaré and Lorentz with some amplifications, and which attracted much attention".[71]Max Born, a friend of Whittaker's, wrote to Einstein expressing his concern about the book's publication and wrote a rebuttal in his 1956 book.[36][72] The controversy was also mentioned in one of Whittaker's obituaries byGerald James Whitrow, who said that he had written Whittaker a letter explaining how the latter's views "did not do justice to theoriginality of Einstein's philosophy", but remarked that he understood why Whittaker felt the need to correct the popular misconception that Einstein's contribution was unique.[32] Max Born's rebuttal, published in his 1956 book, also argues that while the contributions of Lorentz and Poincaré should not be overlooked, it was the postulates and philosophy of Einstein's theory that "distinguishes Einstein’s work from his predecessors and gives us the right to speak of Einstein’s theory of relativity, in spite of Whittaker’s different opinion".[72] Though the dispute has lasted decades, most scholars have rejected Whittaker's arguments and scientific consensus has continued to hold that special relativity was Einstein's development.[73]
Whittaker's views on philosophy was analysed byJames Robert McConnell for theWhittaker Memorial Volume of theProceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society.[35] McConnell noted that Whittaker's research into the connections between physics and philosophy were spread across approximately forty publications.[74] Whittaker's worldview was classified asneo-Cartesianism in the volume, a philosophy described as being "founded on the principle that the search for a universal science should be modelled on the procedure of physicomathematicians."[75] McConnell notes several of Whittaker's original contributions toRené Descartes' philosophical system, but goes on to sum up the work by saying that while he admired Whittaker's attempt at the problem, he was not satisfied with the many transitions between mathematics,aesthetics,ethics. He stated that "If the transitions from mathematics to moral values are not firmly established, Whittaker's attempt does not succeed in remedying the defects of Descartes' solution."[76] Whittaker published work in several other areas of philosophy, including research on Eddington's principle, a conjecture byArthur Eddington that all quantitative propositions in physics can be derived from qualitative assertions.[30] In addition to publishing Eddington'sFundamental Theory, Whittaker wrote two other books pertaining to Eddington's philosophy.[30] Whittaker also wrote at length about the impacts of then-recent discoveries in astronomy on religion and theology,[77]determinism andfree will,[78] andnatural theology.[79] In the conclusion of his article, McConnell sums up Whittaker's philosophic works as appearing as though it came from "that of the scholarly Christian layman".[79] On metaphysics, he goes on to note that there are few scholars who are competent in both physics and metaphysics and states that future work could benefit and draw inspiration from Whittaker's research in the area.[79]
In 1931, Whittaker received theSylvester Medal from theRoyal Society for "his original contributions to both pure and applied mathematics".[80] He then received theDe Morgan Medal from theLondon Mathematical Society in 1935, an award given once every three years for outstanding contributions to mathematics.[81] He received several honours in his 70s, including being knighted in 1945 byKing George VI,[82] and in 1954, receiving theRoyal Society'sCopley Medal, its highest award, "for his distinguished contributions to both pure and applied mathematics and to theoretical physics".[18][83] In the opening remarks of the 1954 address of PresidentEdgar Adrian to the Royal Society, Adrian announces Whittaker as that years Copley medallist saying he is probably the most well-known British mathematician at the time, due to "his numerous, varied and important contributions" as well as the offices he had held.[84] Noting contributions to nearly all fields of applied mathematics and then-recent contributions to pure mathematics, relativity, electromagnetism, and quantum mechanics, Adrian goes on to say that the "astonishing quantity and quality of his work is probably unparalleled in modern mathematics and it is most appropriate that the Royal Society should confer on Whittaker its most distinguished award."[84]
Whittaker also gave several distinguished lectures, some of which formed the base of books he would later write.[2] He held the Rouse Ball lectureship atTrinity College, Cambridge in 1926, theBruce-Preller lectureship of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh in 1931, and the Selby lectureship at theUniversity of Cardiff in 1933. He also held the Hitchcock professorship at theUniversity of California in 1934, the Riddell lectureship at theUniversity at Durham (Newcastle) in 1942, the Guthrie lectureship of theRoyal Physical Society of Edinburgh in 1943, and theDonnellan lectureship at theTrinity College Dublin in 1946.[2] He gave theTarner Lecture atTrinity College, Cambridge in 1947 and held the Larmor lectureship of theRoyal Irish Academy and the Herbert Spencer lectureship at theUniversity of Oxford, both in 1948.[2]
The story of the development of our understanding of electricity and magnetism is, of course, much longer and richer than the mention of a few names from one century would indicate. For a detailed account of the fascinating history, the reader should consult the authoritative volumes byWhittaker
Whittaker's views on the origin of special relativity have been rejected by the great majority of scholars
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| Academic offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Andrews Professor of Astronomy, Royal Astronomer of Ireland 1906–1912 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of Mathematics,University of Edinburgh 1912–1946 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Mathematical Association 1920–1921 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the London Mathematical Society 1928–1929 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1939–1944 | Succeeded by Professor SirWilliam Wright Smith |
| Awards | ||
| Preceded by | Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize 1924–1928 | Succeeded by SirJames Walker |
| Preceded by | Sylvester Medal 1931 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | De Morgan Medal 1935 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Copley Medal 1954 | Succeeded by |
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