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George Neville Watson
Times obituary
A DISTINGUISHED MATHEMATICIAN
Professor George Neville Watson, F.R.S., formerly Mason Professor of Mathematics at the University of Birmingham and after his retirement Professor Emeritus, who died at Leamington on Tuesday, was one of the great mathematicians of the classical school of analysts
He was most widely known as the author of Theory of Bessel Functions and co-author with Whittaker of Modern Analysis. Both these books are still in daily use by engineers, physicists, and applied mathematicians, perhaps more so today than by pure mathematicians. The late Professor Titchmarsh said about them: "Here one felt mathematics was really happening before one's eyes. The older mathematical books were full of mystery and wonder. With Professor Watson, we reached the period when the mystery is dispelled, though the wonder remains." He had a rare gift for solving problems. He provided many proofs of theorems given by the Indian genius Ramanujan and contributed to many branches of classical analysis. He was always willing to bring his special skill to bear on a difficult calculation, but he usually did not care to know the purpose for which it was required and wanted to see the mathematical problem isolated from the practical facts and motives surrounding it.
"WATSONIAN CYCLE"
Born at Westward Ho! in 1886, he was educated at St. Paul's School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was Senior Wrangler in 1907 and took a Smith Prize in 1909, he was Fellow of Trinity College from 1910 to 1916, and he always retained his strong affection for the college. After three years at University College London he was appointed to a Chair in the University of Birmingham, which he held until his retirement in 1951. He was elected to the Royal Society at the age of 33. His many honours included the Sylvester Medal of the Royal Society in 1946 and the De Morgan Medal of the London Mathematical Society in 1947. He served the London Mathematical Society with great enthusiasm, he was its honorary secretary from 1919 to 1933, president from 1933 to 1935 and editor of the Proceedings until 1946. It is a pity that he did not live to see the celebrations of the society's centenary next summer.
In his mathematical work, he did not have many pupils, but he took undergraduate teaching and the general problems of the university seriously. He was the university's expert on the time table: students with unusual combinations of subjects usually had to be referred to him for advice, and for many years after his retirement, the dates of the academic year in the university were governed by the "Watsonian cycle." He took great interest in the University Superannuation Scheme and served for many years on the National Executive Committee of the FSSU.
He took great trouble with the style of his letters and his conversation and enjoyed finding a pungent phrase to express his points of view or his criticism, though in later years letter-writing became rather a burden. In life, as well as in mathematics, his tastes were classical, and he made no secret of his aversion to cars, telephones, and fountain pens.
He loved trains—whose timetables were as familiar to him as those of the university lectures—and unusual stamps. The University of Birmingham chose the name "Watson Building" for a new building containing, among others, the mathematics departments, and he took great delight in discussing plans for the opening ceremony.
He leaves a wife and a son.
A DISTINGUISHED MATHEMATICIAN
Professor George Neville Watson, F.R.S., formerly Mason Professor of Mathematics at the University of Birmingham and after his retirement Professor Emeritus, who died at Leamington on Tuesday, was one of the great mathematicians of the classical school of analysts
He was most widely known as the author of Theory of Bessel Functions and co-author with Whittaker of Modern Analysis. Both these books are still in daily use by engineers, physicists, and applied mathematicians, perhaps more so today than by pure mathematicians. The late Professor Titchmarsh said about them: "Here one felt mathematics was really happening before one's eyes. The older mathematical books were full of mystery and wonder. With Professor Watson, we reached the period when the mystery is dispelled, though the wonder remains." He had a rare gift for solving problems. He provided many proofs of theorems given by the Indian genius Ramanujan and contributed to many branches of classical analysis. He was always willing to bring his special skill to bear on a difficult calculation, but he usually did not care to know the purpose for which it was required and wanted to see the mathematical problem isolated from the practical facts and motives surrounding it.
"WATSONIAN CYCLE"
Born at Westward Ho! in 1886, he was educated at St. Paul's School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was Senior Wrangler in 1907 and took a Smith Prize in 1909, he was Fellow of Trinity College from 1910 to 1916, and he always retained his strong affection for the college. After three years at University College London he was appointed to a Chair in the University of Birmingham, which he held until his retirement in 1951. He was elected to the Royal Society at the age of 33. His many honours included the Sylvester Medal of the Royal Society in 1946 and the De Morgan Medal of the London Mathematical Society in 1947. He served the London Mathematical Society with great enthusiasm, he was its honorary secretary from 1919 to 1933, president from 1933 to 1935 and editor of the Proceedings until 1946. It is a pity that he did not live to see the celebrations of the society's centenary next summer.
In his mathematical work, he did not have many pupils, but he took undergraduate teaching and the general problems of the university seriously. He was the university's expert on the time table: students with unusual combinations of subjects usually had to be referred to him for advice, and for many years after his retirement, the dates of the academic year in the university were governed by the "Watsonian cycle." He took great interest in the University Superannuation Scheme and served for many years on the National Executive Committee of the FSSU.
He took great trouble with the style of his letters and his conversation and enjoyed finding a pungent phrase to express his points of view or his criticism, though in later years letter-writing became rather a burden. In life, as well as in mathematics, his tastes were classical, and he made no secret of his aversion to cars, telephones, and fountain pens.
He loved trains—whose timetables were as familiar to him as those of the university lectures—and unusual stamps. The University of Birmingham chose the name "Watson Building" for a new building containing, among others, the mathematics departments, and he took great delight in discussing plans for the opening ceremony.
He leaves a wife and a son.
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