Andrew Forsyth

Andrew Russell Forsyth ( born June 18, 1858 in Glasgow, † June 2, 1942 in London) was a British mathematician.

Life and work

Andrew Russell Forsyth was born in 1859 as son of John Forsyth. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a Master of Arts.

Forsyth taught from 1882 to 1883 as a professor of mathematics at University College, Liverpool. From 1884 to 1910 he worked in Cambridge; here he was from 1884 to 1895 " Lecturer" and " Assistant Tutor" at Trinity College, and from 1895 to 1910 Professor of Pure Mathematics Sadlerian at the University of Cambridge. From 1913 to 1923 he was Chief Professor of Mathematics at Imperial College London.

He has published, among others, to the theory of differential equations, function theory, differential geometry and calculus of variations. He was also the author of numerous textbooks.

Forsyth married that was already once ( with Charles Boys) married Marion Amelia Pollock ( 1866-1920 ), a granddaughter of the lawyer and politician Sir Jonathan Frederick Pollock ( 1783-1870 ). For this reason, had to leave Forsyth Trinity College, Cambridge, and give up his Fellow status. As a consequence, his friend Alfred North Whitehead left in protest Cambridge.

Honors and Memberships

From 1881 to 1910 Forsyth "Fellow" was of Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1886 he was elected as a member ( "Fellow" ) to the Royal Society, which honored him in 1897 with the Royal Medal.

He was a member of the London Mathematical Society from 1904 to 1906 and its president.

In 1908 he gave a plenary lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Rome ( On the Present Condition of Partial Differential Equations of the Second Order as Regards formal integration).

Works

  • Theory of differential equations, 6 volumes ( 1890-1906 )
  • Theory of functions of a complex variable (1893, reprint 1965)
  • Calculus of variations (1927 )
  • Geometry of four dimensions, 2 volumes (1930 )

Swell

  • John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson: Andrew Russell Forsyth. In: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive (English)
  • Entry at the Royal Society (English )
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