Christopher Longuet-Higgins facts for kids

Hugh Christopher Longuet-Higgins (born April 11, 1923 – died March 27, 2004) was a very smart British scientist and teacher. He was a professor of Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. This is a field that uses math and computers to understand how chemicals work. Later, he moved to the University of Edinburgh to work in a new area called cognitive science. This field studies how our brains think and learn.

Christopher Longuet-Higgins made many important discoveries about how molecules behave. He was also a talented musician. He played and wrote music, and he wanted to use science to understand music better. He even started a science magazine called Molecular Physics.

Early Life and Learning

Christopher Longuet-Higgins was born in Lenham, Kent, England. This was on April 11, 1923. He was the older son of Henry Hugh Longuet Longuet-Higgins. His father was a vicar, which is a type of priest.

He went to The Pilgrims' School and Winchester College. At Winchester, he was part of a group of four smart friends. This group included his brother Michael, Freeman Dyson, and James Lighthill. In 1941, he won a special scholarship. This allowed him to study at Balliol College, Oxford.

He studied chemistry there. But he also took music classes. He was even an organ player for the college. While still a student, he solved a big puzzle in chemistry. He figured out the correct shape of a chemical called diborane (B₂H₆). No one knew its shape before, and it was different from what many scientists expected. He published this discovery with his teacher, R. P. Bell. He earned his advanced degree, a Doctor of Philosophy, in 1947. He studied at the University of Oxford with his supervisor, Charles Coulson.

Science Work and Discoveries

After finishing his studies, Longuet-Higgins did more research. He worked at the University of Chicago and the University of Manchester. In 1952, he became a professor at King's College London. Then, in 1954, he became a special professor at the University of Cambridge. He made many important discoveries in theoretical chemistry there. Some people even thought he should have won a Nobel Prize for his work.

One of his big discoveries was about something called Geometric phase. This helps explain how molecules change their energy. He also helped create ways to study how chemical reactions happen. He showed how to use special groups of symmetry to understand molecules.

Later in his time at Cambridge, he became very interested in the brain. He also got interested in a new field called artificial intelligence (AI). AI is about making computers think like humans. Because of this new interest, he made a big change in his career. In 1967, he moved to the University of Edinburgh. There, he helped start a new department. It was called the Department of Machine Intelligence and Perception. He worked with Richard Gregory and Donald Michie.

In 1974, he moved again. He went to Sussex University in Brighton, England. There, he worked on how people see and understand things. In 1981, he shared an important idea with computer scientists. This was about something called the essential matrix. It helps computers understand images, especially for things like robots seeing the world. He also shared a method called the eight-point algorithm.

He retired in 1988. After retiring, he worked on a new challenge. He wanted to teach computers how to play music from a written score. He kept very careful notes about this work. Even though it was not published, his ideas can still be studied. His papers and notes are kept at the Royal Society. One of his last articles about music and the brain was published in a science journal.

Here is an example of his thoughts on how we understand music:

Longuet-Higgins (1979): —

Imagine you are in a music shop. You find an old box of pianola rolls. One roll has a title you can't read. You unroll a bit to see if you can tell what song it is from the holes in the paper. Are there four beats in the music, or three? Does it start on the main note, or another? You decide the only way to know is to buy it and play it at home. In seconds, your ears tell you what your eyes could not. You now own a piano version of "Colonel Bogey".

His work on teaching computers to understand music was recognized. He received an honorary music degree from the University of Sheffield. When he passed away in 2004, he was a Professor Emeritus at the University of Sussex.

Awards and Honors

Christopher Longuet-Higgins received many important awards. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1958. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK. He also became a member of the US National Academy of Sciences in 1968. He was a member of other important science groups too.

He received special honorary degrees from several universities. These included Bristol, Essex, Sheffield, Sussex, and York. He won prizes for his work in music and chemistry. He was also a governor for the BBC from 1979 to 1984.

In 2005, a special award was created in his honor. It is called the Longuet-Higgins Prize. This prize is given every year for important discoveries in computer vision. These are discoveries that have been very useful over time.

Personal Life

Christopher Longuet-Higgins died on March 27, 2004. He was 80 years old. He respected the Church of England, but he did not believe in God himself.

See also

• Geometric phase
• Christopher Longuet-Higgins § Notes
• Christopher Longuet-Higgins § Notes
• Christopher Longuet-Higgins § Notes