Ian Sneddon

Prof Ian Naismith Sneddon FRS[1] FRSE FIMA OBE (8 December 1919 Glasgow, Scotland – 4 November 2000 Glasgow, Scotland) was a Scottish mathematician who worked on analysis and applied mathematics.[3][4]

For the Scottish footballer of the 1960s and 1970s, see Ian Sneddon (footballer).

Ian Sneddon
Born
Ian Naismith Sneddon

(1919-12-08)8 December 1919
Died4 November 2000(2000-11-04) (aged 80)
AwardsFRS[1]
Eringen Medal (1979)
Scientific career
Doctoral studentsAnthony Spencer[2]

Life

He was born in Glasgow on 8 December 1919 the son of Naismith Sneddon and his wife, Mary Ann Cameron. He was educated at Hyndland School in Glasgow.[5]

He studied Mathematics and Physics at Glasgow University, graduating BSC then went to Cambridge University gaining an MA in 1941. From 1942 to 1945, in the Second World War, he served as a Scientific Officer to the Ministry of Supply. After the war he worked as a Research Officer for H H Wllls Laboratory at Bristol University. In 1946 he began lecturing in Natural Philosophy (Physics) at Glasgow University.[6]

In 1950 he received a professorship at University College, North Staffordshire. In 1956 he returned to Glasgow University as Professor of Mathematics.

In 1958 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Robert Alexander Rankin, Philip Ivor Dee, William Marshall Smart and Edward Copson. He won the Society's Makdougall-Brisbane Prize for the period 1956-58. In 1983 he was further elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.[7] [1]

He retired in 1985 and died in Glasgow on 4 November 2000.

Family

In 1943 he married Mary Campbell Macgregor.

Research

Sneddon's research was published widely including:

  • with Nevill Mott: Wave mechanics and its applications, 1948
  • Fourier transforms, 1951[8]
  • Special functions of mathematical physics and chemistry, 1956[9]
  • Elements of partial differential equations, 1957[10]
  • with James George Defares: An introduction to the mathematics of medicine and biology, 1960[11]
  • Mixed boundary problems in potential theory, 1966
  • Lectures on transform methods, 1967
  • with Morton Lowengrub: Crack problems in the classical theory of elasticity, 1969
  • The use of integral transforms, 1972
  • The linear theory of thermoelasticity, 1974
  • Encyclopaedic dictionary of mathematics for engineers and applied scientists, 1976
  • The use of operators of fractional integration in applied mathematics, 1979
  • with E. L. Ince: The solution of ordinary differential equations, 1987

Awards and honours

Sneddon received Honorary Doctorates from Warsaw University (1873), Heriot-Watt University (1982)[12] University of Hull (1983) and University of Strathclyde (1984).

References
  1. Chadwick, P. (2002). "Ian Naismith Sneddon, O.B.E. 8 December 1919 – 4 November 2000". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 48: 417. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2002.0025.
  2. Chadwick, P.; England, A. H.; Parker, D. F. (2015). "Anthony James Merrill Spencer 23 August 1929 — 26 January 2008". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. Royal Society publishing. 61. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2015.0003. ISSN 0080-4606.
  3. McBride, Adam (15 January 2001). "Death of I. N. Sneddon". OP-SF NET.
  4. O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Ian Sneddon", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.
  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. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Heins, Albert E. (1952). "Review: I. Sneddon, Fourier transforms". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 58 (4): 512–513. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1952-09636-1.
  9. Cohen, E. Richard (1956). "Review: Special functions of mathematical physics and chemistry". Physics Today. 9 (11): 46. doi:10.1063/1.3059825.
  10. Polkinghorne, J. C. (1957). "Review: Elements of partial differential equations". Physics Today. 10 (5): 36. doi:10.1063/1.3060371.
  11. Jones, D. S. (1961). "Review: An introduction to the mathematics of medicine and biology". Proc. Edinburgh Math. Soc. 12 (3): 166–167. doi:10.1017/S0013091500002911.
  12. webperson@hw.ac.uk. "Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates". www1.hw.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
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