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Louis Mordell
Times obituary
Research in Pure Mathematics
Professor L. J. Mordell, FRS, Sadleirian Professor of Pure Mathematics at Cambridge, 1945 to 1953 and since then Emeritus Professor, died on Sunday. He was 84.
Louis Joel Mordell was born on January 28, 1888, at Philadelphia. He attended the Central High School in that city. As a youth, he conceived the ambition of studying at Cambridge. In 1906, he came to England and sat for the open scholarship examination of the St. John's group of colleges. He came out top of the list and was awarded a Major Scholarship at St. John's College. At that time, he was very much a self-educated mathematician; what he had learned at school had been of a comparatively elementary character but he had read widely on his own.
Mordell took Part II of the Mathematical Tripos in 1909, the last year in which the Wranglers were arranged in order of merit. He was Third Wrangler.
From 1912 to 1920 Mordell was a lecturer at Birkbeck College, London, except for the years 1916–1919 when he served in the Ministry of Munitions. In 1920 he went to a post at the Manchester College of Technology, and in 1923 he was elected Fielden Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Manchester, a post which he continued to hold until 1945. The years in Manchester were very fruitful, both in terms of his own research and the influence he exerted through his students and colleagues.
In 1945 Mordell was elected to succeed Hardv as Sadleirian Professor of Pure Mathematics at Cambridge and was also elected a Fellow of St. John's College. In the years that followed, he built up an active school of research, the members of which are now, in many cases, themselves leaders of mathematical thought in various parts of the world.
Mordell's eminence as a mathematician received recognition in many ways. He was elected FRS in 1924 and received the Sylvester Medal in 1949. He served as President of the London Mathematical Society for 1943–45 and was awarded the De Morgan Medal in 1941 and the Berwick Prize in 1946. He received honorary doctorates from Glasgow University and Mount Allison University (New Brunswick) and was a foreign member of several academies of science.
In 1953, Mordell became Professor Emeritus at Cambridge, and in the years that followed, he served as a visiting professor at many universities in Canada, the USA, and Africa and gave occasional lectures at a variety of institutions in many other countries.
Mordell's contributions to mathematics were nearly all made in the theory of numbers, a subject which is unique among the various branches of mathematics in that many of its problems can be stated in terms that are intelligible to any educated man, though their solution (when found) may depend on deep and abstruse methods borrowed from other branches of mathematics. Mordell worked on many aspects of the subject, but his greatest discoveries are those relating to indeterminate equations, that is, equations which are to be solved in integers. Although there is a vast literature on particular equations, it is only in the present century that any general theorems have been proved concerning equations of higher degree than the second. In these discoveries, Mordell was the pioneer and leader. His work dealt mainly with cubic equations, though some of it was later extended to equations of higher degree by other eminent mathematicians. However, the subject of cubic equations in particular is still one of special interest and is again the subject of active research at the present time.
Mordell had an engaging simplicity of outlook and an unbounded enthusiasm for his subject and for life as a whole. He was very much an individualist (practically none of his work was in collaboration), and as such he respected the individuality of others. No one could have been more generous than he was in his appreciation of the work of his younger colleagues, or indeed of complete strangers; and this generosity reflected his single-minded devotion to the advancement of knowledge. Both his work and his recreations (bridge, swimming, walking, and rock-climbing) brought him into contact with people in many walks of life, and he had an unusually wide circle of friends. The Mordell home, first in Manchester and later in Cambridge, was a centre of generous hospitality which will be remembered with affection by many.
Research in Pure Mathematics
Professor L. J. Mordell, FRS, Sadleirian Professor of Pure Mathematics at Cambridge, 1945 to 1953 and since then Emeritus Professor, died on Sunday. He was 84.
Louis Joel Mordell was born on January 28, 1888, at Philadelphia. He attended the Central High School in that city. As a youth, he conceived the ambition of studying at Cambridge. In 1906, he came to England and sat for the open scholarship examination of the St. John's group of colleges. He came out top of the list and was awarded a Major Scholarship at St. John's College. At that time, he was very much a self-educated mathematician; what he had learned at school had been of a comparatively elementary character but he had read widely on his own.
Mordell took Part II of the Mathematical Tripos in 1909, the last year in which the Wranglers were arranged in order of merit. He was Third Wrangler.
From 1912 to 1920 Mordell was a lecturer at Birkbeck College, London, except for the years 1916–1919 when he served in the Ministry of Munitions. In 1920 he went to a post at the Manchester College of Technology, and in 1923 he was elected Fielden Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Manchester, a post which he continued to hold until 1945. The years in Manchester were very fruitful, both in terms of his own research and the influence he exerted through his students and colleagues.
In 1945 Mordell was elected to succeed Hardv as Sadleirian Professor of Pure Mathematics at Cambridge and was also elected a Fellow of St. John's College. In the years that followed, he built up an active school of research, the members of which are now, in many cases, themselves leaders of mathematical thought in various parts of the world.
Mordell's eminence as a mathematician received recognition in many ways. He was elected FRS in 1924 and received the Sylvester Medal in 1949. He served as President of the London Mathematical Society for 1943–45 and was awarded the De Morgan Medal in 1941 and the Berwick Prize in 1946. He received honorary doctorates from Glasgow University and Mount Allison University (New Brunswick) and was a foreign member of several academies of science.
In 1953, Mordell became Professor Emeritus at Cambridge, and in the years that followed, he served as a visiting professor at many universities in Canada, the USA, and Africa and gave occasional lectures at a variety of institutions in many other countries.
Mordell's contributions to mathematics were nearly all made in the theory of numbers, a subject which is unique among the various branches of mathematics in that many of its problems can be stated in terms that are intelligible to any educated man, though their solution (when found) may depend on deep and abstruse methods borrowed from other branches of mathematics. Mordell worked on many aspects of the subject, but his greatest discoveries are those relating to indeterminate equations, that is, equations which are to be solved in integers. Although there is a vast literature on particular equations, it is only in the present century that any general theorems have been proved concerning equations of higher degree than the second. In these discoveries, Mordell was the pioneer and leader. His work dealt mainly with cubic equations, though some of it was later extended to equations of higher degree by other eminent mathematicians. However, the subject of cubic equations in particular is still one of special interest and is again the subject of active research at the present time.
Mordell had an engaging simplicity of outlook and an unbounded enthusiasm for his subject and for life as a whole. He was very much an individualist (practically none of his work was in collaboration), and as such he respected the individuality of others. No one could have been more generous than he was in his appreciation of the work of his younger colleagues, or indeed of complete strangers; and this generosity reflected his single-minded devotion to the advancement of knowledge. Both his work and his recreations (bridge, swimming, walking, and rock-climbing) brought him into contact with people in many walks of life, and he had an unusually wide circle of friends. The Mordell home, first in Manchester and later in Cambridge, was a centre of generous hospitality which will be remembered with affection by many.
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