Sir George Gabriel Stokes in Skreen: how a childhood by the sea influenced a giant in fluid dynamics

2020 ◽  
Vol 378 (2174) ◽  
pp. 20190516
Author(s):  
Aoife Kearins
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Rural Area ◽  
Ocean Waves ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
The University

George Gabriel Stokes spent most of his life at the University of Cambridge, where he undertook his undergraduate degree and later became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics and Master of Pembroke College. However, he spent the first 13 years of his life in Skreen, County Sligo, Ireland, a rural area right by the coastline, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. As this paper will discuss, the time he spent there was short but its influence on him and his research was long reaching, with his childhood activities of walking by and bathing in the sea being credited for first piquing Stokes' interest in ocean waves, which he would go on to write papers about. More generally, it marked the beginning of an interest in fluid dynamics and a curious nature regarding natural phenomena in his surroundings. Stokes held a special affinity for the ocean for the rest of his life, constantly drawing inspiration for it in his mathematical and physical studies and referencing it in his correspondences. This commentary was written to celebrate Stokes' 200th birthday as part of the theme issue of Philosophical Transactions A . This article is part of the theme issue ‘Stokes at 200 (Part 1)’.

George Batchelor: a personal tribute, ten years on

2010 ◽  
Vol 663 ◽  
pp. 2-7
Author(s):  
H. K. MOFFATT
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Fluid Mechanics ◽  
Great Scientist ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
Personal Tribute ◽  
Research Students ◽  
The University

Ten years have elapsed since the passing of George Keith Batchelor (8 March 1920–30 March 2000), formerly Professor of Fluid Dynamics at the University of Cambridge, and Founder Editor of the Journal of Fluid Mechanics. It is fitting to remind the readers of this Journal what a great scientist he was, both in respect of his own contributions to our subject, and even more in respect of his inspirational influence on generations of research students and younger colleagues, and also more widely on the international stage, on which he was a revered, if sometimes controversial, personality.

scholarly journals Leslie Howarth OBE. 23 May 1911 — 22 September 2001

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 107-119
Author(s):  
J. T. Stuart
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Applied Mathematics ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
California Institute Of Technology ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
University Of Bristol ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Manchester

Leslie Howarth was born in Lancashire and studied at Accrington Grammar School and the University of Manchester, where he graduated in mathematics. Sydney Goldstein (FRS 1937) had a great impact on him, and he migrated with Goldstein to the University of Cambridge. There he studied for the Mathematical Tripos and then for a PhD under the guidance of Goldstein, gaining the Smith's Prize in the process. The 1930s were a golden age for fluid dynamics, both theoretical and experimental, partly because of the rapid rise of aviation in both Europe and North America. Howarth rapidly developed a formidable international reputation, producing a string of theoretical and computational papers at the cutting edge of research in the study of boundary layers in aerodynamics and fluid dynamics. In 1937–38 he spent a year in the USA at the California Institute of Technology, working with Theodore von Karman (ForMemRS 1946), during which they produced a remarkable paper of lasting importance in the theory of turbulence. During World War II Howarth worked for several UK government agencies, but afterwards he moved from Cambridge to the University of Bristol, where he developed a strong research school in theoretical fluid dynamics and applied mathematics.

scholarly journals Astrophysical fluid dynamics

2016 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon I. Ogilvie
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Strong Shock ◽  
Mathematical Structure ◽  
Classic Problem ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Oscillation Modes ◽  
Steady Solutions ◽  
The University ◽  
The Magnetic Field

These lecture notes and example problems are based on a course given at the University of Cambridge in Part III of the Mathematical Tripos. Fluid dynamics is involved in a very wide range of astrophysical phenomena, such as the formation and internal dynamics of stars and giant planets, the workings of jets and accretion discs around stars and black holes and the dynamics of the expanding Universe. Effects that can be important in astrophysical fluids include compressibility, self-gravitation and the dynamical influence of the magnetic field that is ‘frozen in’ to a highly conducting plasma. The basic models introduced and applied in this course are Newtonian gas dynamics and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) for an ideal compressible fluid. The mathematical structure of the governing equations and the associated conservation laws are explored in some detail because of their importance for both analytical and numerical methods of solution, as well as for physical interpretation. Linear and nonlinear waves, including shocks and other discontinuities, are discussed. The spherical blast wave resulting from a supernova, and involving a strong shock, is a classic problem that can be solved analytically. Steady solutions with spherical or axial symmetry reveal the physics of winds and jets from stars and discs. The linearized equations determine the oscillation modes of astrophysical bodies, as well as their stability and their response to tidal forcing.

INTERVIEW WITH PETINA GAPPAH

Imbizo ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-98
Author(s):  
Faith Mkwesha
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Short Story ◽  
First Language ◽  
Short Story Collection ◽  
The Third ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
Book Award ◽  
The University ◽  
The Guardian ◽  
University Of Zimbabwe

This interview was conducted on 16 May 2009 at Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek, Cape Town, South Africa. Petina Gappah is the third generation of Zimbabwean writers writing from the diaspora. She was born in 1971 in Zambia, and grew up in Zimbabwe during the transitional moment from colonial Rhodesia to independence. She has law degrees from the University of Zimbabwe, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Graz. She writes in English and also draws on Shona, her first language. She has published a short story collection An Elegy for Easterly (2009), first novel The Book of Memory (2015), and another collection of short stories, Rotten Row (2016).  Gappah’s collection of short stories An Elegy for Easterly (2009) was awarded The Guardian First Book Award in 2009, and was shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, the richest prize for the short story form. Gappah was working on her novel The Book of Memory at the time of this interview.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Escudier
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Flow ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Ocean Waves ◽  
Basic Design ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Turbofan Engine ◽  
Expansion Waves ◽  
Supersonic Aircraft ◽  
Bodily Fluids ◽  
Design Calculations

In this chapter the wide array of engineering devices, from the kitchen tap (a valve) to supersonic aircraft, the basic design of which depends upon considerations of the flow of gases and liquids, is shown. Much the same is true of most natural phenomena from the atmosphere and our weather to ocean waves, and the movement of sperm and other bodily fluids. In this textbook a number of the concepts, principles, and procedures which underlie the analysis of any problem involving fluid flow or a fluid at rest are introduced. In this Introduction, examples have been selected for which, by the end of the book, the student should be in a position to make practically useful engineering-design calculations. These include a dam, a rocket motor, a supersonic aerofoil with shock and expansion waves, a turbojet engine, a turbofan engine, and the blading of a gas turbine.

2005 Verriest Medal awarded to Professor John D. Mollon

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (3-4) ◽  
pp. ii-ii
Keyword(s):  
Color Vision ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Visual Neuroscience ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
Color Vision Tests ◽  
Spectral Coding ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University

The International Colour Vision Society awarded the 2005 Verriest Medal to John D. Mollon, Professor of Visual Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, UK. This award is bestowed by the Society to honor long-term contributions to the field of color vision. If the field of color vision were itself a rainbow, then Professor Mollon's contributions cover nearly its full spectrum, including the isolation and elucidation of basic chromatic coding mechanisms and the constraints that they impose on human (and more generally primate) visual performance, the genetic basis of spectral coding mechanisms, the ecological influences on and evolutionary origins of chromatic discrimination. He has been instrumental in the design of several new color vision tests and has extensively exploited abnormal models, both congenital and acquired, to further our understanding of normal mechanisms. He is especially appreciated for his keen and profound sense of the history of science, in particular with respect to the field of color vision. He has been a member of the society for over 25 years and is currently serving on its board of directors. He organized the 2001 ICVS meeting in Cambridge, celebrating the bicentennial of Thomas Young's lecture on color vision.

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