Edward Routh

Edward John Routh ( born January 20, 1831 in Quebec, Canada, † June 7, 1907 in Cambridge, England ) was an English mathematician and natural philosopher.

Life and work

Routh was the son of a British officer. From 1842 he came from Canada with his father to England and visited in 1847 with a grant from the University College in London, where he studied under Augustus de Morgan. After the bachelor's degree in 1849, he went to Peterhouse College and received his master's degree in 1853 and also won a gold medal for his achievements in mathematics and theoretical physics. In 1854 he made ​​another bachelor's degree at Cambridge University, where he also first (Senior Wrangler ) in the Tripos examinations was ( James Clerk Maxwell was second ). With Maxwell He also received the Smith Prize. In 1855 he became a Fellow of Peterhouse, where he was also a tutor. From 1856 a busy private tutor, the student was in Cambridge preparing for the Tripos examinations. From 1862 every year for 22 years was the Senior Wrangler in his class and in the 30 years in which he taught, were his pupils 700 480 Wrangler at a total of about 900 wranglers at all. In 1888 he sat down to rest.

In 1864 he married the eldest daughter of the Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy, with whom he had five sons and one daughter.

He he dealt mainly with mathematical physics and controlled so that together with Maxwell and Adolf Hurwitz fundamental insights in stability theory at that found in the control engineering as Routh - Hurwitz criterion its application.

In 1872 he became a member of the Royal Society and in 1866 the Royal Astronomical Society. He was a member in 1856 of the founding members of the London Mathematical Society. Routh was more honorary doctorates. In 1883 he became an Honorary Fellow of Peterhouse College. In 1877 he was awarded the Adams Prize for an essay on stability theory.

Works (excerpt)

  • A treatise on the dynamics of rigid bodies in 1860
  • A Treatise on the Stability of a Given State of Motion, Particularly Steady Motion ...; 1877
  • A treatise on analytic statics in 1891
  • A treatise on the dynamics of a particle in 1898
  • The dynamics of systems of rigid bodies. Volume 1: The elements; Leipzig, B.G. Teubner, 1898.
  • The dynamics of systems of rigid bodies. Volume 2: The Higher dynamics; Leipzig, B.G. Teubner, 1898.
Peterhouse, Cambridge Integrated Authority File
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