John Watt Butters is remembered in mathematics for work the next generation could build on.
The record lists John Watt Butters as Scottish mathematician (1863-1946).
John Watt Butters was born at Edinburgh in 1863. He studied at University of Edinburgh and George Heriot's School.
The nineteenth century made mathematics rigorous: definitions were tightened, foundations questioned, and whole fields created from scratch.
His academic posts were held at Ardrossan Academy, George Heriot's School and James Gillespie's High School.
Mathematics accumulates without discarding: a proof from two thousand years ago is still a proof.
The honours record reads: Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1896).
John Watt Butters died in 1946, aged 83. The proofs remain, and a proof does not decay - which is the particular permanence mathematics offers.
Achievements
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh — 1896
- Held posts at Ardrossan Academy, George Heriot's School and James Gillespie's High School
