John (Jack) Todd facts for kids
John Todd (born May 16, 1911 – died June 21, 2007) was a smart mathematician from Northern Ireland. He spent most of his life working in England and the USA. John Todd was a pioneer in a field called numerical analysis, which is a special type of math that uses computers to solve tricky problems.
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Early Life and Education
John Todd was born in a place called Carnacally, in County Down, Ireland. He grew up close to the city of Belfast. He was very bright and won a scholarship to attend Methodist College Belfast. In his last year there, he focused only on math because he wanted to become an engineer.
He earned his first degree, a Bachelor of Science (BSc), from Queen's University in 1931. After that, he went to Cambridge University in England, studying at St. John's College for two years. He learned from a famous mathematician named J. E. Littlewood. Littlewood actually told him not to get a doctorate degree, but instead to focus on doing new research right away!
Career in Europe
From 1933 to 1937, John Todd taught at Queen's University Belfast. He was even invited to give a speech at a big international math conference in Oslo, Norway, in 1936.
He then worked at King's College in London from 1937 to 1939, and again from 1945 to 1947. It was there that he met Olga Taussky, another brilliant mathematician who studied matrices and numbers. They got married in 1938.
During World War II, John Todd returned to Belfast to teach at Methodist College Belfast from 1940 to 1941. He also helped with the war effort by working for the British Admiralty from 1941 to 1945. This meant he used his math skills to help the British government with important problems during the war. One of his greatest achievements was helping to save the Mathematical Research Institute of Oberwolfach in Germany at the end of the war. This was a very important place for math research.
Moving to the United States
In 1945, John and Olga Todd moved to the United States. They both started working for the National Bureau of Standards, which is a government agency that helps with science and technology.
Later, in 1957, they both joined the teaching staff at the California Institute of Technology (often called Caltech) in Pasadena, California. Caltech is a very famous university known for its science and engineering programs.
Later Life and Legacy
John Todd eventually retired from teaching at Caltech. In May 2001, when he turned 90 years old, Caltech held a special event to honor him. Everyone who knew him called him Jack Todd. He passed away at his home in Pasadena, California, on June 21, 2007.
