John Henry Michell facts for kids
John Henry Michell (born October 26, 1863 – died February 3, 1940) was an Australian mathematician. He was a professor of mathematics at the University of Melbourne. He was also a FRS, which is a very important award for scientists.
Early Life and Amazing Studies
John Henry Michell was born in Maldon, Victoria. His parents, John and Grace Michell, came from England in 1854. His father was a miner.
John Henry first went to school in Maldon. Then, in 1877, he went to Wesley College, Melbourne. He was a very bright student and won special scholarships there.
In 1881, he started studying at the University of Melbourne. He finished his B.A. degree in 1883. He was an amazing student, always getting top grades and winning awards in math and physics every year.
After that, Michell went to the University of Cambridge in England. He won a big scholarship at Trinity College. In 1887, he was one of the top four math students, known as a "senior wrangler." This meant he was one of the very best math students in his year. He continued to excel in his math studies in 1888.
Working at the University of Melbourne
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In 1890, Michell became a fellow at Trinity College in Cambridge. But he decided to return to Melbourne later that year. He started working as a lecturer in mathematics at Melbourne University. He stayed in this job for more than 30 years.
His teaching work took up a lot of his time. Still, he managed to do important research. His first paper, about how liquids flow freely, was published in 1890. It showed how talented he was as a mathematician. Over the next 12 years, he wrote about 15 more papers for math journals in England.
These papers were very important for understanding how liquids move (called hydrodynamics) and how materials stretch and bend (called elasticity). Because of his great work, he was chosen to be a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in London in June 1902.
More and more students joined the university, but the number of teachers didn't grow for a long time. Michell kept doing his research, but he didn't publish any more papers for many years. In 1923, he became a professor of mathematics. With more staff, he started new classes and tutorials. This made his department much better.
Michell retired from his professor role at the end of 1928. He was given the special title of honorary research professor. He passed away after a short illness on February 3, 1940, in Camberwell, Victoria. He was buried at Boroondara General Cemetery. Michell never married. In 1937, he published a large math book called The Elements of Mathematical Analysis with Maurice Belz.
Michell's Lasting Impact
John Henry Michell was known as a shy person. He was one of the very first graduates from an Australian university to be chosen for the Royal Society.
He was a kind and patient teacher. He was always happy to help his students. But his real passion was his research. He often helped his friends who were engineers solve their problems. He also did many experiments. He even designed and built new types of gyroscopes, which are spinning devices.
Michell was always working. It's not known why he stopped publishing papers after 1902. One of his most important papers was about "the wave resistance of a ship," published in 1898. This paper explained how ships move through water. Its value wasn't fully understood until about 30 years later. Then, ship designers in England and Germany realized how important it was.
Michell's brother, Anthony Michell, also made big contributions to science. He invented the famous Michell thrust bearing, which is a key part in many machines.
Even though his research career was relatively short, Michell published 23 scientific papers. These are considered some of the most important contributions ever made by an Australian mathematician.
In 1998, a special meeting was held to celebrate 100 years since Michell published his famous paper on ship hydrodynamics. Since 1999, the JH Michell Medal has been given out by ANZIAM to honor him and his work.
