Ian Sneddon

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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
Glasgow, Scotland
Died4 November 2000(2000-11-04) (aged 80)
Glasgow, Scotland
Alma materUniversity of Glasgow
AwardsFRS[1]
Eringen Medal (1979)
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Glasgow
Doctoral studentsAnthony Spencer[2]

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]

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.[5]

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.[6]

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.[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 (1973), Heriot-Watt University (1982)[12] University of Hull (1983) and University of Strathclyde (1984).

References

  1. ^ a b c Chadwick, P. (2002). "Ian Naismith Sneddon, O.B.E. 8 December 1919 – 4 November 2000". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 48: 417–437. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2002.0025. S2CID 60804445.
  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. 61. Royal Society publishing: 505–529. 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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  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. ^ "Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates". www1.hw.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
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