University of Manchester
Which employer did Horace Lamb work for from 1885 to 1920?
Horace Lamb Sir Horace Lamb ( 27 November 1849 – 4 December 1934 ) was a British applied mathematician and author of several influential texts on classical physics , among them Hydrodynamics ( 1895 ) and Dynamical Theory of Sound ( 1910 ) . Both of these books remain in print . The word vorticity was coined by Lamb in 1916 . Biography . Early life and education . Lamb was born in Stockport , Cheshire , the son of John Lamb and his wife Elizabeth , née Rangeley . John Lamb was a foreman in a cotton mill who had gained some distinction by the invention of an improvement to spinning machines , he died when his son was a child . Lambs mother married again , and shortly afterwards Horace went to live with his strict but maternal aunt , Mrs . Holland . He studied at Stockport Grammar School , where he made the acquaintance of a wise and kindly headmaster in the Rev . Charles Hamilton , and a graduate of classics , Frederic Slaney Poole , who in his final year became a good friend . It was from these two tutors that Lamb acquired his taste for mathematics and , to a somewhat lesser extent , classical literature . In 1867 , he gained a classical scholarship at Queens College , Cambridge . Since Lambs inclination , however , was to pursue a career in engineering , he chose to decline the offer , and instead worked for a year at the Owens College in nearby Manchester , as a means of developing his mathematical proficiency further . At that time , the Chair of Pure Mathematics at Owens College was held by Thomas Barker , an eminent Scottish mathematician , who graduated as Senior Wrangler and first Smiths prizeman from the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos in 1862 . An acknowledged lecturer of high quality , Lamb prospered under the guidance of Barker , and was elected to a minor scholarship at Trinity College , Cambridge . At Trinity , he was Second Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos , 2nd Smiths prizeman and elected fellow in 1872 . Among his professors were James Clerk Maxwell and George Gabriel Stokes . He was soon elected both a Fellow and a tutor in the college . University of Cambridge , 1872–75 . By 1874 , Lamb had become thoroughly invested in his work at Trinity , preparing there an innovative and original series of lectures on the subject of hydrodynamics for third-year students . Richard Glazebrook , a final-year student at the time , wrote of them that they were a revelation , and praised Lamb for his lucid presentation of the properties of liquids in rotational motion . However , Lamb soon became romantically involved with Elizabeth Foot , sister-in-law to his former headmaster , and , since the conditions of his position at Trinity stipulated that he should hold it only so long as he was unmarried , he was compelled , in 1875 , to resign and continue his work elsewhere . University of Adelaide , 1876–1885 . Lambs acquaintance from Stockport , Frederic Slaney Poole , had by now for some years lived in South Australia ; hearing of his engagement , Poole suggested in a letter that he should apply for the chair at the recently founded University of Adelaide . In 1875 , he was appointed the first ( Sir Thomas ) Elder Professor of Mathematics there , and took up the chair in March , 1876 . Lamb was instrumental in the establishment of the academic and administrative structure of the university , and lectured in pure and applied mathematics , also giving practical demonstrations in physics . For the next ten years the average number of students enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts course at Adelaide was fewer than twelve ; though Lamb also gave some public lectures in the evenings , his workload was relatively light . His deftly rendered and original A Treatise on the Mathematical Theory of the Motions of Fluids ( which would later be reprinted as Hydrodynamics in 1895 ) was first published in 1878 . In 1883 , Lamb published a paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society applying Maxwells equations to the problem of oscillatory current flow in spherical conductors , an early examination of what was later to be known as the skin effect . Lamb was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1884 . University of Manchester , 1885–1920 . Lamb was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics at Owens College , Manchester , in 1885 and which became the Beyer Chair in 1888 , a position Lamb held until retirement in 1920 ( Owens College was merged with the Victoria University of Manchester in 1904 ) . His Hydrodynamics appeared in 1895 ( 6th ed . 1933 ) , and other works included An Elementary Course of Infinitesimal Calculus ( 1897 , 3rd ed . 1919 ) , Propagation of Tremors over the Surface of an Elastic Solid ( 1904 ) , The Dynamical Theory of Sound ( 1910 , 2nd ed . 1925 ) , Statics ( 1912 , 3rd ed . 1928 ) , Dynamics ( 1914 ) , Higher Mechanics ( 1920 ) and The Evolution of Mathematical Physics ( 1924 ) . Later years , 1920–1934 . In 1932 Lamb , in an address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science , wittily expressed on the difficulty of explaining and studying turbulence in fluids . He reportedly said , I am an old man now , and when I die and go to heaven there are two matters on which I hope for enlightenment . One is quantum electrodynamics , and the other is the turbulent motion of fluids . And about the former I am rather optimistic . Lamb is also known for description of special waves in thin solid layers . These are now known as Lamb waves . Lamb was survived by three sons and four daughters . The sons ( who included Walter Lamb ( classicist ) and the painter Henry Lamb ) were born at Adelaide , South Australia , and all became distinguished . He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge , with his wife . Honours and awards . Lamb was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1884 , was twice vice-president , received its Royal Medal in 1902 and , its highest honour , the Copley Medal in 1924 . He was president of the London Mathematical Society 1902–1904 , president of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society , and president of the British Association in 1925 . He was knighted in 1931 . A room in the Alan Turing Building at the University of Manchester is named in his honour and in 2013 the Sir Horace Lamb Chair was created at Manchester . A building at the University of Adelaide also bears his name .