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G. N. Watson

English mathematician (1886–1965)

Summary

English mathematician (1886–1965)

FieldValue
birth_nameGeorge Neville Watson
birth_date
birth_placeWestward Ho!, England
death_date
death_placeLeamington Spa, Warwickshire, England
nationalityBritish
fieldMathematics
doctoral_advisorE. T. Whittaker
work_institutionsUniversity of Birmingham
University of Cambridge
alma_materTrinity College, Cambridge
known_forWhittaker and Watson text
Watson's quintuple product identity
prizesSmith's Prize (1909)
Sylvester Medal (1946)
De Morgan Medal (1947)
Fellow of the Royal Society
honorific_suffix
{{postnominalscountryGBRLDDsize=100%}}

University of Cambridge Watson's quintuple product identity Sylvester Medal (1946) De Morgan Medal (1947) Fellow of the Royal Society **George Neville Watson ** **** (31 January 1886 – 2 February 1965) was an English mathematician, who applied complex analysis to the theory of special functions. His collaboration on the 1915 second edition of E. T. Whittaker's A Course of Modern Analysis (1902) produced the classic "Whittaker and Watson" text. In 1918 he proved a significant result known as Watson's lemma, that has many applications in the theory on the asymptotic behaviour of exponential integrals.

Life

He was born in Westward Ho! in Devon the son of George Wentworth Watson, a schoolmaster and genealogist, and his wife, Mary Justina Griffith.

He was educated at St Paul's School in London, as a pupil of F. S. Macaulay. He then studied Mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge. There he encountered E. T. Whittaker, though their overlap was only two years.

From 1914 to 1918 he lectured in Mathematics at University College, London. He became Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Birmingham in 1918, replacing Prof R S Heath, and remained in this role until 1951.

He was awarded an honorary MSc Pure Science in 1919 by Birmingham University.

He was President of the London Mathematical Society 1933/35.

He died at Leamington Spa on 2 February 1965.

Works

His Treatise on the theory of Bessel functions (1922) also became a classic, in particular in regard to the asymptotic expansions of Bessel functions.

He subsequently spent many years on Ramanujan's formulae in the area of modular equations, mock theta functions and q-series, and for some time looked after Ramanujan's lost notebook.

Ramanujan discovered many more modular equations than all of his mathematical predecessors combined. Watson provided proofs for most of Ramanujan's modular equations. Bruce C. Berndt completed the project begun by Watson and Wilson. Much of Berndt's book Ramanujan's Notebooks, Part 3 (1998) is based upon the prior work of Watson.

Watson's interests included solvable cases of the quintic equation. He introduced Watson's quintuple product identity.

Honours and awards

In 1919 Watson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1946, he received the Sylvester Medal from the Society. He was president of the London Mathematical Society from 1933 to 1935.

He is sometimes confused with the mathematician G. L. Watson, who worked on quadratic forms, and G. Watson, a statistician.

Family

In 1925 he married Elfrida Gwenfil Lane daughter of Thomas Wright Lane.

References

References

  1. {{MathGenealogy
  2. (1966). "George Neville Watson 1886-1965". [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]].
  3. (1966). "George Neville Watson". Journal of the London Mathematical Society.
  4. {{MacTutor Biography
  5. (July 2006). "Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002". The Royal Society of Edinburgh.
  6. (July 2006). "Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002". The Royal Society of Edinburgh.
  7. "University campus Blue Plaque Trail". Birmingham University.
  8. Carmichael, R. D.. (1924). "Review: ''A Treatise on the Theory of Bessel Functions'', by G. N. Watson". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc..
  9. Watson, G. N.. (1937). "The mock theta functions (2)". Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society.
  10. Rankin. (2001). "Ramanujan: Essays and Surveys". American Mathematical Soc..
  11. (1998). "Karl der Grosse und sein Nachwirken: Mathematisches Wissen". Brepols.
  12. Adiga, B.. (1985). "Ramanujan's second notebook: Theta-functions and q-series Chap. 16". Amer. Math. Soc..
  13. "George Neville Watson, Sc.D. (Cantab.), Hon.LL.D. (Edin.), Hon.Sc.D. (Dub.), F.R.S., Hon.F.R.S.E. - RSE Obituary".
Wikipedia Source

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