Thomas John I'Anson Bromwich facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Thomas John I'Anson Bromwich
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| Born | 8 February 1875 Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England
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| Died | 24 August 1929 (aged 54) Northampton, Northamptonshire, England
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| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
Thomas John I'Anson Bromwich was an English mathematician. He was born on February 8, 1875. He passed away on August 24, 1929. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society, a very important group for scientists.
Contents
Life Story of Bromwich
Thomas John I'Anson Bromwich was born in Wolverhampton, England. This happened on February 8, 1875. When he was young, his parents moved to South Africa.
His School Days
In 1892, he finished high school in South Africa. After that, he went to St John's College at the University of Cambridge. He was very good at math. In 1895, he became a "Senior Wrangler." This means he was the top math student in his year.
Teaching and Research
In 1897, Bromwich started teaching at St. John's College. From 1902 to 1907, he was a math professor. He taught at Queen’s College, Galway in Ireland.
In 1906, he was chosen to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a big honor for scientists. In 1907, he went back to Cambridge. He became a Fellow and a teacher at St. John's again. He was also a vice president of the Royal Society in 1919 and 1920.
Bromwich's Math Work
Bromwich studied different areas of mathematics. He worked on both algebra and analysis. Another famous mathematician, G. H. Hardy, said he was great at both. He called him "The best pure mathematician among the applied mathematicians at Cambridge, and the best applied mathematician among the pure mathematicians."
Understanding Oliver Heaviside's Ideas
Today, Bromwich is perhaps most famous for helping to explain Oliver Heaviside's "operator calculus." This was a way of solving math problems. Bromwich used a special math tool called a contour integral. This helped to do an inverse Laplace transform. This specific integral is often called the Bromwich integral now.
Other Math Discoveries
Bromwich also looked into other math topics. He studied how to solve Maxwell's equations. These equations describe how electricity and magnetism work. He also researched how electromagnetic plane waves scatter when they hit spheres.
He wrote a book about the math of quadratic forms. These are special math expressions.
Bromwich Inequality
In 1906, he came up with something called the Bromwich inequality. This is used in the field of matrices. It helps to find the "characteristic roots" of matrices. His inequality gave more exact answers than an older one.
His Famous Book
In 1908, Bromwich wrote a book called An introduction to the theory of infinite series. A second version of this book came out in 1926. G. H. Hardy, the famous mathematician, thought the book was excellent. Even today, this book is still being printed and used.
