Prize from University of Cambridge in mathematics and theoretical physics
"Smith Prize" redirects here. For the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts award, seeMary Smith Prize.
Smith's Prize was the name of each of two prizes awarded annually to two research students inmathematics andtheoretical physics at theUniversity of Cambridge from 1769.[1] Following the reorganization in 1998, they are now awarded under the namesSmith-Knight Prize andRayleigh-Knight Prize.
The Smith Prize fund was founded by bequest ofRobert Smith upon his death in 1768, having by his will left £3,500 ofSouth Sea Company stock to the University. Every year two or more juniorBachelor of Arts students who had made the greatest progress in mathematics and natural philosophy were to be awarded a prize from the fund. The prize was awarded every year from 1769 to 1998 except 1917.
From 1769 to 1885, the prize was awarded for the best performance in a series of examinations. In 1854George Stokes included an examination question on a particular theorem thatWilliam Thomson had written to him about, which is now known asStokes' theorem.[2]T. W. Körner notes
Only a small number of students took the Smith's prize examination in the nineteenth century. WhenKarl Pearson took the examination in 1879, the examiners wereStokes,Maxwell,Cayley, andTodhunter and the examinees went on each occasion to an examiner's dwelling, did a morning paper, had lunch there and continued their work on the paper in the afternoon.[3]
In 1885, the examination was renamedPart III, (now known as theMaster of Advanced Study in Mathematics for students who studied outside of Cambridge before taking it) and the prize was awarded for the best submitted essay rather than examination performance. According toBarrow-Green
By fostering an interest in the study of applied mathematics, the competition contributed towards the success in mathematical physics that was to become the hallmark of Cambridge mathematics during the second half of the nineteenth century.[1]
In the twentieth century, the competition stimulated postgraduate research in mathematics in Cambridge and the competition has played a significant role by providing a springboard for graduates considering an academic career. The majority of prize-winners have gone on to become professional mathematicians or physicists.
TheRayleigh Prize was an additional prize, which was awarded for the first time in 1911.
The Smith's and Rayleigh prizes were only available to Cambridge graduate students who had been undergraduates at Cambridge. TheJ.T. Knight Prize was established in 1974 for Cambridge graduates who had been undergraduates at other universities. The prize commemorates J.T. Knight (1942–1970), who had been an undergraduate student at Glasgow and a graduate student at Cambridge. He was killed in a motor car accident in Ireland in April 1970.
Originally, in 1769, the prizes were worth £25 each and remained at that level for 100 years. In 1867, they fell to £23 and in 1915 were still reported to be worth that amount.[citation needed] By 1930, the value had risen to about £30, and by 1940, the value had risen by a further one pound to £31. By 1998, a Smith's Prize was worth around £250.[1]
In 2007, the value of the three prize funds was roughly £175,000.[4]
In 1998 the Smith Prize, Rayleigh Prize and J. T. Knight Prize were replaced by theSmith-Knight Prize andRayleigh-Knight Prize,[5] the standard for the former being higher than that required for the latter.
For the period up to 1940 a complete list is given inBarrow-Green (1999) including titles of prize essays from 1889 to 1940. The following includes a selection from this list.
1994 Group 1: M. Gaberdiel, Y. Liu. Group 3: H.A. Chamblin. Group 4: P.P. Avelino, S.G. Lack, A.L. Sydenham. Group 5: S. Keras, U. Meyer, G.M. Pritchard, H. Ramanathan, K. Strobl. Group 6: A.O. Bender, V. Toledano Laredo.
1996 Conor Houghton, Thomas Manke
1997 Arno Schindlmayr
1998 A. Bejancu, G. M. Keith, J. Sawon, D. R. Brecher, T. S. H. Leinster, S. Slijepcevic, K. K. Damodaran, A. R. Mohebalhojeh, C. T. Snydal, F. De Rooij, O. Pikhurko, David K. H. Tan, P. R. Hiemer, T. Prestidge, F. Wagner, Viet Ha Hoàng, A. W. Rempel and Jium-Huei Proty Wu
1999 D. W. Essex, H. S. Reall,A. Saikia, A. C. Faul, Duncan C. Richer, M. J. Vartiainen, T. A. Fisher, J. Rosenzweig, J. Wierzba and J. B. Gutowski[51][52]
2001B. J. Green, T A. Mennim, A. Mijatovic, F. A. Dolan, Paul D. Metcalfe and S. R. Tod
2002 Konstantin Ardakov,[53] Edward Crane[54] and Simon Wadsley[55]
1999 C. D. Bloor, R. Oeckl, J. Y. Whiston, Y-C. Chen, P. L. Rendon, C. Wunderer, J. H. P. Dawes, D. M. Rodgers, H-M. Gutmann and A. N. Ross
2001 A. F. R. Bain, S. Khan,S. Schafer-Nameki, N. R. Farr, J. Niesen, J. H. Siggers, M. Fayers, D. Oriti, M. J. Tildesley, J. R. Gair, M. R. E. H. Pickles, A. J. Tolley, S. R. Hodges, R. Portugues, C. Voll, M. Kampp, P. J. P. Roche and B. M. J. B. Walker[60]
2004 Oliver Rinne
2005 Guillaume Pierre Bascoul and Giuseppe Di Graziano
^abcdBarrow-Green, June (1999), "A Corrective to the Spirit of too Exclusively Pure Mathematics: Robert Smith (1689–1768) and his Prizes at Cambridge University",Annals of Science,56 (3):271–316,doi:10.1080/000337999296418
^Obituary, Professor Sydney Chapman, An outstanding mathematical physicist, The Times[2]
^Cook, Alan [rev.],"Jeffreys, Sir Harold (1891–1989)",Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, September 2004. Retrieved 11 January 2023.(subscription required)
^Mehra, Jagdish;Rechenberg, Helmut (2000),The Historical Development of Quantum Theory: The Fundamental Equations of Quantum Mechanics 1925–1926 : The Reception of the Quantum Mechanics 1925–1926, Springer, p. 54,ISBN0-387-95178-4
