John R. Womersley facts for kids

John Ronald Womersley (born June 20, 1907 – died March 7, 1958) was a smart British mathematician and computer scientist. He helped a lot with early computer development. He also made important discoveries about how blood flow works in our bodies.

Today, he is best known for his work on fluid dynamics, especially how blood moves. He also gave his name to the Womersley number. This is a special number that helps scientists understand how liquids flow when they are not steady.

About John Womersley

His Early Life and School

John Womersley was born on June 20, 1907. His hometown was Morley, which is near Leeds in Yorkshire, England. He was the only child of George and Ruth Womersley. His father managed a grocery store.

John went to Morley Grammar School from 1917 to 1925. He was very good at math and science. In 1925, he won scholarships to study at top universities. He chose to study mathematics at Imperial College of Science and Technology.

At Imperial College, he learned about different types of math. He also studied Physics and how liquids move (called Hydrodynamics). In 1929, he earned his degree with top honors. He continued his studies there for two more years.

His Important Work

Pilot ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) was an early computer.

In 1930, Womersley started working at the Shirley Institute in Manchester. This institute studied the cotton industry. He used math to solve problems in making textiles. For example, he helped improve how cotton was spun. He also used mathematical statistics to check the quality of products.

While there, he became very interested in computation. This is about using math to solve problems with calculations. He even spent time learning special numerical methods. In 1936, he worked with Douglas Hartree. They created a way to solve complex math problems using a special machine.

As World War II approached, Womersley joined the armaments research department in 1937. He used statistics to test weapons and ammunition. In 1942, he became an assistant director at the Ministry of Supply. He set up a team to give advice on statistical methods. This team helped British factories ensure the quality of their products during the war.

In 1944, Womersley became the first head of the Mathematics Division at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). A big task for NPL was to build an electronic computer. Womersley named this computer the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE). This name was inspired by an older machine designed by Charles Babbage.

Womersley was in charge of setting up the first national computing center in the UK. He visited the United States to learn about new computers there. He saw machines like ENIAC and the Harvard Mark I. When he returned, he hired Alan Turing to work on the ACE project. Turing was a brilliant mathematician.

The ACE project faced some delays. Womersley left the NPL in 1950. He joined the British Tabulating Machine Company (BTM). He realized that the computers built by universities were too big and expensive. He wanted to create smaller, more affordable computers for businesses. He hired Andrew Booth to help with this. Their work led to the Hollerith Electronic Computer (HEC1). This was Britain's first computer made for businesses.

This image shows how blood might flow in tubes with different Womersley numbers.

In 1954, Womersley joined a research team at St Bartholomew's Hospital. This team was studying blood flow in arteries. This work led to a very important discovery. In 1955, he published an article describing a special number. This number helps describe how liquids flow when they are not steady. It is now known as the Womersley number.

Later in 1955, he moved to the United States. He worked at the Wright Air Development Center in Ohio. He continued to publish his research on blood flow. Sadly, he became ill with cancer. He returned to Britain for treatment in 1957. He passed away in Ohio on March 7, 1958. His work on blood flow is still very important in science today.

His Family Life

John Womersley married Jean Isobel Jordan in 1931. They had three daughters named Barbara, Ruth, and Marion. His wife, Jean, lived in Dayton, Ohio, until 1996. As of 2014, two of their daughters and six grandchildren were still living in the US and Canada.

Selected Publications

• Womersley, J. R. (1957). An Elastic Tube Theory of Pulse Transmission and Oscillatory Flow in Mammalian Arteries. This is a very important paper about how blood flows in arteries.