Horace Lamb

Sir Horace Lamb ( born November 29, 1849 in Stockport, England; † 4 December 1934 in Cambridge, England ) was a British mathematician and physicist (including acoustics) dealt primarily with theoretical hydrodynamics.

Life

Lamb was the son of a foreman in a cotton mill, who was known for his inventions. Since his father died young, he was raised by an aunt. At 17 he won a scholarship in classical languages ​​for Cambridge. In 1868, he began his study of mathematics and physics at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he listened to George Gabriel Stokes and James Clerk Maxwell. In 1872 he was Second Wrangler in the Tripos and was awarded the Smith Prize. Then he became a Fellow of Trinity College and Lecturer at the same time. In 1875 he became professor of mathematics in Adelaide in Australia. In 1885 he returned to England as a professor at the University of Manchester, where he remained until his retirement in 1920. He then moved to Cambridge, where an honorary professorship was set up for him (Rayleigh Lectureship ).

He worked in the field of electrodynamics, hydrodynamics and elasticity theory and its applications, in which interested him particularly vibration phenomena of all kinds, so the dynamics. For example, he explained the Rayleigh 's observations about the vibrations of thin plates and mathematically studied the vibrations of elastic spheres. He was known, not least through his textbooks. In 1917 he described the eponymous Lamb waves.

In 1884 he was elected as a member ( "Fellow" ) to the Royal Society, which honored him in 1902 with the Royal Medal and the Copley Medal in 1923. Twice he was Vice President of the Royal Society. 1902 to 1904 he was President of the London Mathematical Society, the De Morgan Medal he received in 1911. He was seven honorary doctorates and a member of the Accademia dei Lincei. In 1931 he was knighted.

He was married in 1875 and had seven children.

Works

  • The mathematical theory of the motion of fluids, 1878
  • Hydrodynamics. Cambridge University Press, 1895, 1999, ISBN 0-521-45868-4 ( reprint of 1895)
  • Dynamical Theory of Sound ( Dover Phoenix Editions). Dover Publications 2004, ISBN 0-486-43916- X ( reprint of New York 1910 )
  • Infinitesimal Calculus, 1897
  • Higher Mechanics, 1920
  • Vibrations of elastic systems, in particular acoustics, Mathem.Wissenschaften Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Part 4, 1906
December 4 Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh Australian Dictionary of Biography Integrated Authority File
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