George Howard Darwin belongs to the mathematical record as a figure whose results outlasted the problems that prompted them.
The record lists George Howard Darwin as English astronomer, mathematician (1845–1912).
George Howard Darwin was born at Downe in 1845. His recorded nationality is United Kingdom. He studied at Trinity College and University of Cambridge.
The nineteenth century made mathematics rigorous: definitions were tightened, foundations questioned, and whole fields created from scratch.
His academic posts were held at University of Cambridge and Trinity College.
His principal contribution is theory of tides. Mathematics is the one discipline whose results, once proved, are never overturned.
Recognition followed: Fellow of the Royal Society (1879), Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, Copley Medal (1911) and Royal Medal (1884).
That the work was done from United Kingdom matters: mathematical training, institutions and the language of publication have never been evenly distributed.
George Howard Darwin died in 1912, aged 67. The proofs remain, and a proof does not decay - which is the particular permanence mathematics offers.
Achievements
- Fellow of the Royal Society — 1879
- Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
- Copley Medal — 1911
- Royal Medal — 1884
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society — 1892
- Notable work: theory of tides
- Held posts at University of Cambridge and Trinity College
