George Batchelor

George Keith Batchelor
George Keith Batchelor
Born (1920-03-08)8 March 1920
Melbourne, Australia
Died 30 March 2000(2000-03-30) (aged 80)
Cambridge, England
Nationality Australia
Alma mater University of Melbourne
Known for Batchelor vortex
Prandtl–Batchelor theorem
Batchelor–Chandrasekhar equation
Batchelor scale
Awards Adams Prize (1950)
Royal Medal (1988)
Timoshenko Medal (1988)
Scientific career
Fields Applied mathematics
Fluid dynamics
Institutions University of Cambridge
Doctoral advisor Geoffrey Ingram Taylor
Doctoral students Philip Saffman
Keith Moffatt
Adrian Gill

George Keith Batchelor FRS[1] (8 March 1920 – 30 March 2000) was an Australian applied mathematician and fluid dynamicist. He was for many years the Professor of Applied Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, and was founding head of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP). In 1956 he founded the influential Journal of Fluid Mechanics[2] which he edited for some forty years. Prior to Cambridge he studied at Melbourne High School and University of Melbourne.[3]

As an applied mathematician (and for some years at Cambridge a co-worker with Sir Geoffrey Taylor in the field of turbulent flow), he was a keen advocate of the need for physical understanding and sound experimental basis.

His An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics (CUP, 1967) is still considered a classic of the subject, and has been re-issued in the Cambridge Mathematical Library series, following strong current demand.[4] Unusual for an 'elementary' textbook of that era, it presented a treatment in which the properties of a real viscous fluid were fully emphasised. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1959.[5]

The Batchelor Prize award, is named in his honour and is awarded every four years at the meeting of the International Congress on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Moffatt, H. K. (2002). "George Keith Batchelor. 8 March 1920 – 30 March 2000". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 48: 25. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2002.0002. JSTOR 3650247.
  2. ↑ Huppert, H. E. (2000). "George Keith Batchelor 8 March 1920–30 March 2000 Founding Editor, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1956". Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 421: 1. Bibcode:2000JFM...421....1H. doi:10.1017/S0022112000001968.
  3. ↑ Gregory, Alan (2005). Strong Like Its Pillars. Melbourne: Thompson Library Trust. ISBN 0-646-43922-7.
  4. ↑ G. K. Batchelor (2000) [1967]. An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics. Cambridge Mathematical Library series, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-66396-2.
  5. ↑ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  6. ↑ "The Batchelor Prize in Fluid Mechanics - IUTAM". iutam.org. Retrieved 2016-03-27.
  • O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "George Batchelor", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews .
  • An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics by G. K. Batchelor at Cambridge Mathematical Library.
  • Obituaries for George Batchelor (with portraits) at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) of the University of Cambridge website
  • Obituary by Julian Hunt
  • Video recording of the K. Moffatt's lecture on life and work of George Batchelor
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