Tom Whiteside

Derek Thomas Whiteside ( born July 23, 1932 in Blackpool, † April 22, 2008 in Wokingham ) was a British historian of mathematics. He was considered a leading authority on the work of Isaac Newton and published numerous previously unpublished manuscripts and mathematical writings of Newton.

Life

Whiteside came in 1932 in Blackpool, an English seaside town on the Irish Sea in the county of Lancashire, to the world. In his hometown, he attended the Grammar School and, after leaving school at the University of Bristol, which he left in 1954 with an excellent degree in French and Latin. Whiteside earned his doctorate at the University of Cambridge, his thesis was published in 1961 under the title Patterns of Mathematical Thought in the Later Seventeenth Century, and still unique in its breadth and depth. From 1961 to 1963 he was Research Fellow at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research ( DSIR ) and then to 1972 Research Assistant in Cambridge. Between 1972 and 1976 he was assistant director of research and 1976-1987 University Reader in mathematics history. After that, he was, until his retirement in 1999, Professor emeritus of history of mathematics and natural sciences.

Whiteside was for 35 years with Ruth, nee Robinson, married. His wife died in 1997.

Awards

In 1975, the British Academy Whiteside on as a member. In 1977 he was awarded the George Sarton Medal, the highest prestigious award for the History of Science, founded by George Sarton and Lawrence Joseph Henderson History of Science Society ( HSS).

Works

• Biography of John Collins, in Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York from 1970 to 1990.
• The Mathematical Principles Underlying Newton 's ' Principia Mathematica ': Being the Ninth Gibson Lecture in the History of Mathematics Delivered Within the University of Glasgow on 21st October 1969, Hardcover, University of Glasgow, ISBN 0-85261-014-9
• Publisher of: Newton, Isaac. The Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton, 8 vols., Cambridge University Press, 1967-1981.