Douglas Jones (mathematician)

Douglas Jones MBE, FRS,[1] FRSE (10 January 1922 – 29 November 2013) was a mathematician known for his work in the field of electromagnetism.[2]

Douglas Jones
portrait by Godfrey Argent

He was described by The Scotsman as "one of the most outstanding British mathematicians of his generation".[2]

Life

Jones was born 10 January 1922 in Corby Northamptonshire, and was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School.[2] He was the eldest of four children.[3]

In 1940, Jones began studying at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University.[2]

In his spare time, Jones was known to enjoy golf, walking and photography.[4] He and his wife Ivy had two children.[3]

Career

After joining the RAF in 1942, he led a research team looking at equipment for night fighter operations. Awarded MBE in 1945 for his work with the RAF.[2]

Jones graduated MA from Oxford in 1947, and then worked as a lecturer at Manchester University. In 1957 he was appointed chair of Mathematics at the University of Keele.[2]

During his time at Keele, Jones wrote the book The Theory of Electromagnetism which established him as a leader in this field.[2]

In 1965, Jones was appointed to the Ivory Chair of Applied Mathematics at Queen's College, Dundee, then part of the University of St Andrews, but which became the University of Dundee in 1967.[2][3]

Jones retired from the University of Dundee in 1992, gaining the title Emeritus Professor.[2]

Honours and awards

[5]

Publications
  • Electrical and Mechanical Oscillations (1961)
  • Theory of Electromagnetism (1964)
  • Generalised Functions (1966)
  • Introductory Analysis (vol. 1, 1969; vol 2, 1970)
  • Methods in Electromagnetic Wave Propagation (1979, 2nd edn 1994)
  • Elementary Information Theory (1979)
  • The Theory of Generalised Functions (1982)
  • Differential Equations and Mathematical Biology (1983, 3rd edn 2010)
  • Acoustic and Electromagnetic Waves (1986)
  • Assembly Programming and the 8086 Microprocessor (1988)
  • 80×86 Assembly Programming (1991)
  • Introduction to Asymptotics (1997)

References
  1. Sleeman, B. D.; Abrahams, I. D. (2015). "Douglas Samuel Jones MBE. 10 January 1922 — 26 November 2013". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 61.
  2. Sleeman, Brian (17 January 2014). "Obituary: Professor Douglas Jones FRS, FRSE, mathematician". The Scotsman. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  3. "UR-SF 81 Professor Douglas Samuel Jones, Ivory Professor of Applied Mathematics, University of Dundee". Archive Services Online Catalogue. University of Dundee. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  4. JONES, Prof. Douglas Samuel in Who's Who 2014. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. 2014.
  5. "Douglas Samuel Jones" (PDF). Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 17 November 2017.

See also
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.