David Crighton

David George Crighton (* November 15, 1942 in Llandudno, Wales, † April 12, 2000 in Cambridge ) was a British mathematician who specializes in applied mathematics.

Crighton was born in Wales. Since his parents were bombed, attended school in Watford and studied from 1961 at St. John's College, Cambridge. After the bachelor's degree, he taught mathematics at Woolwich Polytechnic. Soon, however, he became a research assistant ( in acoustics of aircraft ) to John Williams Fflowcs to the Imperial College where he received his doctorate in 1969. His theoretical studies on the production of aircraft noise found the attention of James Lighthill, who saw to it that it was founded in 1974 Professor of Applied Mathematics at Leeds. He built from the Department of Applied Mathematics as one of the leading in the UK. In 1986 he became the successor of George Keith Batchelor Professor of Applied Mathematics at Cambridge. At the same time he became a Fellow of St John 's College. 1991-2000 he was there the president of the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics ( DAMTP ). 1997 to 2000 he was Master of Jesus College. He died of liver cancer.

Crighton dealt with the production and prevention of aircraft noise ( aeroacoustics ), vibrations of mechanical structures, linear and nonlinear wave phenomena such as solitons and inverse scattering theory. He was also active in mathematics education at schools, among others in a Pop Maths Roadshow.

He was a Fellow of the Royal Society since 1993. In 1995 he received the Carl -Friedrich- Gauss Medal. 2002 David Crighton Medal of the London Mathematical Society and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications ( the British Association of Applied Mathematics ) was founded in his honor.

He was married twice and had two children from his first marriage. He played the piano and was a passionate opera lovers.