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John Whittaker
Times obituary
Dr. John Macnaghten Whittaker FRS, who died suddenly on 29 January at the age of 78, was Professor of Pure Mathematics at Liverpool University from 1933 to 1965 and Vice Chancellor of Sheffield University from 1952 to 1965.
Son of Sir Edmund Whittaker, one of the great mathematicians of this century, Jack Whittaker went to school at Fettes and then on to his father's department at Edinburgh University, where he soon established himself as a mathematician of great promise. He proceeded to Trinity College at Cambridge as a Scholar and was a Wrangler in 1927.
After spending two years as a Lecturer in Edinburgh, he returned to Cambridge as a Fellow and Lecturer at Pembroke College. In 1929, he was awarded the Smith's Prize; his father had been the first Smith's Prizeman in 1897.
At only 28, he became Professor of Pure Mathematics at Liverpool University, where he continued to distinguish himself as a teacher and with his research on basic polynomials and interpolatory function theory.
He served in the Royal Artillery between 1940 and 1945, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and becoming Deputy Scientific Adviser to the Army Council in 1944. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1949, having previously taken his DSc at Edinburgh.
His appointment at Sheffield in 1952 was an inspired choice, for Jack Whittaker became probably the most effective Vice-Chancellor the university had ever had. In his time, it doubled its size and changed out of all recognition. He presided with confidence over the expansion program: his clear, incisive, and retentive mind welcomed the many issues—academic, administrative, architectural, and financial—which arose in those times.
But he did not spend all his time on planning and building. He was an all-round Vice-Chancellor. He made a point of meeting every new member of staff: he took the greatest interest in the work of the departments; he showed a ready sympathy to the students and their affairs. The hospitality which he and his wife Iona, a remarkable person in her own right, dispensed at the Vice-Chancellor's Lodge has become legendary.
In Sheffield itself, his fostering of university/city relationships was most successful. He played a full part in city life, including membership of the Education Committee, of the Cathedral Council, and work as a Church Burgess and as a Governor of the United Hospitals, and in 1965 he received the Freedom of the City. His decision to retire, at 60, was much regretted in the university.
In his retirement, he returned to mathematics and became successively a Senior Fellow at Birmingham University and a Visiting Professor in Cairo, Tehran, and Barbados.
The many treasures in his home reflected his abiding interest in and abundant knowledge of the fine arts. The beauty of his gardens gave much pleasure to him and to his visitors. He had a treasure house of academic lore from which he could entertain a company to their great delight.
Dr. John Macnaghten Whittaker FRS, who died suddenly on 29 January at the age of 78, was Professor of Pure Mathematics at Liverpool University from 1933 to 1965 and Vice Chancellor of Sheffield University from 1952 to 1965.
Son of Sir Edmund Whittaker, one of the great mathematicians of this century, Jack Whittaker went to school at Fettes and then on to his father's department at Edinburgh University, where he soon established himself as a mathematician of great promise. He proceeded to Trinity College at Cambridge as a Scholar and was a Wrangler in 1927.
After spending two years as a Lecturer in Edinburgh, he returned to Cambridge as a Fellow and Lecturer at Pembroke College. In 1929, he was awarded the Smith's Prize; his father had been the first Smith's Prizeman in 1897.
At only 28, he became Professor of Pure Mathematics at Liverpool University, where he continued to distinguish himself as a teacher and with his research on basic polynomials and interpolatory function theory.
He served in the Royal Artillery between 1940 and 1945, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and becoming Deputy Scientific Adviser to the Army Council in 1944. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1949, having previously taken his DSc at Edinburgh.
His appointment at Sheffield in 1952 was an inspired choice, for Jack Whittaker became probably the most effective Vice-Chancellor the university had ever had. In his time, it doubled its size and changed out of all recognition. He presided with confidence over the expansion program: his clear, incisive, and retentive mind welcomed the many issues—academic, administrative, architectural, and financial—which arose in those times.
But he did not spend all his time on planning and building. He was an all-round Vice-Chancellor. He made a point of meeting every new member of staff: he took the greatest interest in the work of the departments; he showed a ready sympathy to the students and their affairs. The hospitality which he and his wife Iona, a remarkable person in her own right, dispensed at the Vice-Chancellor's Lodge has become legendary.
In Sheffield itself, his fostering of university/city relationships was most successful. He played a full part in city life, including membership of the Education Committee, of the Cathedral Council, and work as a Church Burgess and as a Governor of the United Hospitals, and in 1965 he received the Freedom of the City. His decision to retire, at 60, was much regretted in the university.
In his retirement, he returned to mathematics and became successively a Senior Fellow at Birmingham University and a Visiting Professor in Cairo, Tehran, and Barbados.
The many treasures in his home reflected his abiding interest in and abundant knowledge of the fine arts. The beauty of his gardens gave much pleasure to him and to his visitors. He had a treasure house of academic lore from which he could entertain a company to their great delight.
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