Sir James Hopwood Jeans

Stacy Pfaff

Algebra II

6 th Hour

September 22, 2003

Sir James Hopwood Jeans

-Mathematician, Physicist, and Astronomer-

James Hopwood Jeans was born in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England on September 11, 1877.   His father, William Tullock Jeans, was a parliamentary journalist and later wrote two books about the lives of scientists.   His mother's maiden name was Hopwood; however, all that is known about her is that she originated in northern England.   His parents had three children.   James Hopwood Jeans was the oldest child and the only boy in the family (www-groups).

When Jeans was three years old his family moved to London.   By the time he was seven, Jeans was studying logarithms in a book of his father's.   He memorized twenty seven-figure logarithms by heart, and never forgot them throughout the rest of his life.   In 1890, he entered the Merchant Taylor's School.   At first, he studied classics, but he quickly returned to his love of mathematics that he experienced as a young child.   After receiving a mathematical scholarship, James Hopwood Jeans pursued his studies at Trinity College in Cambridge beginning in October 1896.   As an undergraduate, he wrote a paper on the theory of numbers, earned a First Class degree in the Mathematical Tripos in 1900, received the Isaac Newton Studentship in astronomy and optics, and was also elected a Fellow of the Trinity in 1901.   While at Trinity College he was strongly influenced by Alfred North Whitehead and James Whitbread Lee Glaisher.   Both men intrigued Jeans in the mathematical field, and in addition, Jeans was interested by Glaisher's work in astronomy (www-groups).  

Jeans continued work in applied mathematics, astronomy, and physics although he suffered with tuberculosis.   He spent a year in a sanatorium recovering from his condition and was released in 1903.   By 1904, James Hopwood Jeans had returned to Trinity College; however, this time he was not an undergraduate, but a lecturer in mathematics.   After one year he left his position at Trinity, and served as Professor of Applied Mathematics at Princeton University from 1905 until 1909 (www-groups).  

In 1907, while he was teaching at Princeton he married an American, Charlotte Tiffany Mitchell.   Just a year after his marriage, he published The Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism (www-groups).   By 1909, he decided to return to England, and within a year, became a lecturer in Applied Mathematics for George Gabriel Stokes at the University of Cambridge.   By 1912, at the age of 35, James Hopwood Jeans retired to Guildford in order to devote all of his time to mathematical research and writing books.   It was also in this same year that his first daughter was born (www.go).

Jeans was granted a special honor in 1928.   It was in this year that he was officially knighted and became Sir James Hopwood Jeans.   His first wife, Charlotte, died in 1934.   Just a year later, in 1935, he married Susanne Hock, a musician. He had three more children with his second wife, and they were born in 1936, 1939, and 1944 (www.go).   Today, Jeans is remembered for his ability to apply mathematical concepts to solve physics and astronomy problems.   His mathematical skills helped in creating a dynamical theory of gases, when discussing electricity and magnetism, and even when proposing a tidal theory about stars passing close to the Sun (www-groups).

In January 1945, Sir James Hopwood Jeans suffered a heart attack, but was able to recover.   However, on September 16, 1946, Jeans died after having a second heart attack in his home in Dorking, Surrey, England at the age of 69.   Through his lifelong work he earned the title of astronomer, physicist, and mathematician.   However, in his mind he was always just a mathematician.   His belief in the importance of mathematics was evident when he stated, “From the intrinsic evidence of his creation, the Great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician” (www-groups).   

Resources

Sir James Hopwood Jeans.  

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Jeans.html .

Sir James Hopwood Jeans and early 20th Century Cosmogony.

http://www.go.ednet.ns.ca/~larry/stars/astrhist.html .