caption death_date death_place birth_place citizenship image_size nationality field birth_date residence prizes image article_title academic_advisors name alma_mater
peter pioneer in thermodynamics guthrie tait -- scottish physicist , an early 4 july 1901 edinburgh dalkeith united kingdom 240px scottish mathematical physicist yes 28 april 1831 united kingdom smith 1886 -rrb- 's prize -lrb- 1852 -rrb- royal medal -lrb- tait peter guthrie.jpg peter tait -lrb- physicist -rrb-
 william hopkins peter guthrie tait university of edinburgh
peter tait -lrb- physicist -rrb-

peter guthrie tait frse -lrb- 28 april 1831 -- 4 july 1901 -rrb- was a scottish mathematical physicist , best known for the energy physics textbook `` treatise on natural philosophy '' , which he co-wrote with kelvin , and his early investigations into knot theory , which contributed to the eventual formation of topology as a mathematical discipline .
his name is known in graph theory mainly for tait 's conjecture .
