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George Green, mathematician and physicist 1793 – 1841

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

D.M. Cannell and
N.J. Lord
D.M. Cannell
Affiliation:
39 Village Road, Clifton, Nottingham NG11 8NP
N.J. Lord
Affiliation:
Tonbridge School, Kent TN9 1JP
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Extract

These past two years have seen the bicentenaries of Michael Faraday, Charles Babbage and John Frederick Herschel. A fourth contemporary, who deserves to rank with these, is George Green, the bicentenary of whose birth will be marked by the dedication of a plaque in Westminster Abbey. His memorial will be in proximity to those commemorating Newton, Kelvin, Faraday and Clerk Maxwell. Those to the Herschels (William and John) and Stokes are close by. Green’s memorial designates him “Mathematician and Physicist”. Most mathematicians will know of Green’s theorem and Green’s functions; physicists find his papers seminal to the study of, for example, solid state physics and elasticity and, since the mid-twentieth century, Green’s functions have become an indispensable technique for those working in nuclear physics.

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Type
Research Article
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 77 , Issue 478 , March 1993, pp. 26 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1993

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