Ian Sneddon Explained
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| Birth Name: | Ian Naismith Sneddon |
| Birth Date: | 8 December 1919 |
| Birth Place: | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Death Place: | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Workplaces: | University of Glasgow |
| Alma Mater: | University of Glasgow |
| Thesis1 Title: | and |
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| Thesis1 Url: | and |
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| Thesis1 Year: | and |
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| Doctoral Students: | Anthony Spencer[1] |
| Awards: | FRS
Eringen Medal |
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Prof Ian Naismith Sneddon FRS[2] 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]
Life
Sneddon was born in Glasgow on 8 December 1919, the son of Mary Ann Cameron and Naismith Sneddon. He was educated at Hyndland School in Glasgow.[4]
He studied mathematics and physics at the University of Glasgow, graduating with a BSc. He then went to the University of Cambridge, gaining an MA in 1941. From 1942 to 1945, during World War II, he served as a Scientific Officer to the Ministry of Supply. After the war he worked as a Research Officer for H H Wills Laboratory at the University of Bristol. In 1946, he began lecturing in Natural Philosophy (physics) at the University of Glasgow.[5]
In 1950, he received a professorship at University College, North Staffordshire. In 1956, he returned to the University of Glasgow 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.[6]
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[7]
- Special functions of mathematical physics and chemistry, 1956[8]
- Elements of partial differential equations, 1957[9]
- with James George Defares: An introduction to the mathematics of medicine and biology, 1960[10]
- 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 (1973), Heriot-Watt University (1982)[11] University of Hull (1983) and University of Strathclyde (1984).
Notes and References
- Chadwick. P.. England. A. H.. Parker. D. F.. Anthony James Merrill Spencer 23 August 1929 — 26 January 2008. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 2015. 61. 505–529. Royal Society publishing. 0080-4606. 10.1098/rsbm.2015.0003. free.
- Chadwick . P. . 10.1098/rsbm.2002.0025 . Ian Naismith Sneddon, O.B.E. 8 December 1919 – 4 November 2000 . Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society . 48 . 417–437 . 2002 . 60804445 .
- McBride, Adam. Death of I. N. Sneddon. OP-SF Net. 15 Jan 2001.
- Book: Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002. July 2006. The Royal Society of Edinburgh. 0-902-198-84-X. 22 March 2018. 4 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf. dead.
- Book: Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002. July 2006. The Royal Society of Edinburgh. 0-902-198-84-X. 22 March 2018. 4 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf. dead.
- Book: Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002. July 2006. The Royal Society of Edinburgh. 0-902-198-84-X. 22 March 2018. 4 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf. dead.
- Heins, Albert E.. Review: I. Sneddon, Fourier transforms. Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.. 1952. 58. 4. 512–513. 10.1090/s0002-9904-1952-09636-1. free.
- Cohen, E. Richard. Review: Special functions of mathematical physics and chemistry. Physics Today. 1956. 9. 11. 46. 10.1063/1.3059825.
- Polkinghorne, J. C.. Review: Elements of partial differential equations. Physics Today. 1957. 10. 5. 36. 10.1063/1.3060371.
- Jones, D. S.. Review: An introduction to the mathematics of medicine and biology. Proc. Edinburgh Math. Soc.. 1961. 12. 3. 166–167. 10.1017/S0013091500002911. free.
- Web site: Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates. www1.hw.ac.uk. 2016-04-05. 18 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160418163907/http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm. dead.
