George C. McVittie

Prof George Cunliffe McVittie FRSE FRAS OBE (1904-1988) was a British mathematician and cosmologist.[1]

Life

McVittie was born on 5 June 1904 in Smyrna in Turkey, where his father, Frank S. McVittie, was a merchant. His mother, Emily Caroline Weber, lived in Greece but was of British descent.[2] George was raised bilingual in French and English.

From 1923 he studied mathematics and physics at the University of Edinburgh receiving his degree (MA) in 1928. He then went to Christ's College, Cambridge where he studied for his doctorate (PhD) under Prof Arthur Eddington.[3][4]

From 1930 to 1934 he was Assistant Lecturer at the University of Leeds, 1933-34 Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and 1936-1958 Reader at King's College, University of London.

In 1943 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were David Gibb, Ivor Etherington, Robert Schlapp and Alexander Aitken.[5]

1933 the Royal Astronomical Society.[6][7] During World War II he worked in the Meteorological Service, which also led to publications in meteorology.

From 1948 he was a professor at Queen Mary's College, University of London and from 1952 to 1972 professor at the University of Illinois Observatory of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he built a small astronomy department, one of the leading in the country. His administrative skills meant that he became secretary of the American Astronomical Society.[8]

From 1972 to 1988 he held an honorary professorship at the University of Kent in Canterbury, where in 1985 he received an honorary doctorate.

He died in Canterbury on 8 March 1988.

Legacy

Asteroid 2417, McVittie was named after him. The George C. McVittie Elementary School in Drayton Plains, Michigan was also named in his honor.

Family

In 1934, McVittie married Mildred Bond Strong (d.1985) daughter of John Strong FRSE (1868-1945).

Publications

  • Cosmological Theory (1937) (2nd Edition 1949)
  • General Relativity and Cosmology (1956, (2nd edition 1965)
  • Fact and Theory in Cosmology (1961)[9]

MAH MacCallum: George Cunliffe McVittie (1904-1988), the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 30, 1989, pp 119–122

References

  1. ↑ http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Obits2/McVittie_Indep_Obituary.html
  2. ↑ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
  3. ↑ http://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=4798
  4. ↑ http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/McVittie.html
  5. ↑ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
  6. ↑ http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Societies/FRSE.html
  7. ↑ http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Obits2/McVittie_RAS_Obituary.html
  8. ↑ https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4774
  9. ↑ http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Extras/McVittie_papers.html
  • O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "George C. McVittie", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews .
  • Veröffentlichungen von G.C. McVittie im Astrophysics Data System
  • Nachrufe auf G.C. McVittie im Astrophysics Data System
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