Alexander Aitken

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Alexander Aitken

Alexander Craig Aitken (born April 1, 1895 in Dunedin , New Zealand , † November 3, 1967 in Edinburgh ) was a New Zealand mathematician who dealt with numerical mathematics , statistics and linear algebra . Because of his extraordinary mental arithmetic skills, he was known as "The Human Computer". In 1935 he introduced the generalized least squares method .

life and work

Aitken was born in Dunedin in 1895 as the eldest of seven children of the shopkeeper with Scottish ancestors William Aitken and the Elizabeth Towers and attended the Otago Boys' High School in Dunedin from 1908 to 1913 . Although he was the best student, he didn't show any particular mathematical talent until a good teacher at the age of 14 piqued his interest. In his senior year, he won the " Thomas Baker Calculus Scholarship " . In 1913 he began studying languages ​​and mathematics at the University of Otago to become a teacher. The First World War interrupted his studies.

From 1915 he was a soldier in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Gallipoli , Egypt and on the Western Front during World War I. He was wounded during the Battle of the Somme and sent back to New Zealand after three months in hospital in 1917.

In 1920 he graduated from the University of Otago as a Master of Arts and married in the same year. After that he was a school teacher at Otago Boys' High School until 1923 .

A scholarship because of his mathematical talent made it possible for him to take up further studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland from 1923 . He earned his doctorate at Edmund Whittaker for Doctor of Philosophy . His dissertation, " Smoothing of Data ", was considered so important that in 1926 he received the Doctor of Science (D.Sc.).

In 1925, Aitken had already been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh at the suggestion of Edmund Whittaker , Charles Galton Darwin , Edward Copson and David Gibb . Aitken received the " Makdougall-Brisbane Prize " 1930-1932 and was in the Royal Society very active and had the office of a councilor (1934-1936), Secretary to Ordinary Meetings (1936-1940), and Vice President (1948-1951 and 1956 -1959). He was also an active member of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society and a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries . In 1953 he received the “ Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize ” from the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

During the Second World War he worked at Hut 6 in Bletchley Park on the deciphering of the Enigma code.

Aitken spent his entire professional life at the University of Edinburgh and worked as a lecturer for actuarial mathematics and statistics (1925-1936), reader for statistics (1936-46) and as successor Witthaker s professor of mathematics (1946-65).

Aitken was one of the best known mental calculators of all time and was known for his extraordinary memory. For example, he knew the first 2000 digits of and even as a high school student he memorized the Aeneid of Virgil. During his lectures, he regularly gave five minutes of tasting of his skills at the end (as well as five minutes of anecdotes).

However, he could never forget his experiences during the First World War, which is why he suffered from depression throughout his life . A year before his death, he suffered a complete nervous breakdown. For his war memories ( Gallipoli to the Somme - Recollections of a New Zealand Infantryman Oxford 1963) he was accepted into the Royal Society of Literature in 1964. He was also an excellent amateur musician (violin, viola, composer). He even used musical rhythms for his mental arithmetic techniques.

As a mathematician, he is known for accelerated convergence methods in numerical mathematics, for work on the theory of matrices and in statistics, in particular for the application of methods of linear algebra such as regression analysis ( method of generalized least squares ), and as early as 1942 he gave the Cramér-Rao inequality as the lower limit for the variance of an estimator.

The New Zealand Mathematical Society has awarded the “ Aitken Prize” every year since 1995 for the best student contribution at its colloquium . The award was presented in 1995 at the University of Otago belonging Aitken Centenary Conference on an honor of the 100th birthday Aitken created s organized mathematical conference.

Aitken was married and had two children. He was an excellent musician, Eric Fenby described him as the most accomplished amateur musician he had ever met and was a good athlete at a young age.

He died in Edinburgh on November 3, 1967 .

Memberships

Fonts

  • The case against decimalization. 1962.
  • with H. Silverstone: On the Estimation of Statistical Parameters. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1942, 61, 186-194.
  • On Least Squares and Linear Combinations of Observations. , Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1935, 55, pp. 42-48.
  • with Herbert Turnbull: The Theory of Canonical Matrices. 1932.
  • Determinants and Matrices. 1939, German: Determinants and Matrices. BI university pocket book 1969.
  • Statistical Mathematics. 1939.
  • Gallipoli to the Somme: Recollections of a New Zealand Infantryman , Oxford University Press 1963

literature

  • ML Hunter : An exceptional talent for calculative thinking . In: British Journal of Psychology . 53 , 1962 (English).
  • JM Whittaker, MS Bartlett : Alexander Craig Aitken, 1895-1967 . In: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society . Volume 14 , November 1, 1968, ISSN  1748-8494 (English).
  • GJ Tee : Two New Zealand Mathematicians . In: Proceedings of the First Australian Conference on the History of Mathematics . Department of Mathematics, Monash University , Melbourne 1981, p. 182 (English).
  • GJ Tee : Mathematics in the Pacific Basin . In: British Journal for the History of Science . 21 , 1988, pp. 401 (English).
  • PC Fenton : To catch the spirit: the memoir / of AC Aitken . University of Otago Press , Dunedin 1995, ISBN 0-908569-99-8 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Brian Sweeney : Alexander Aitken, The human computer . In: NZEDGE.COM . Brian Sweeney , May 19, 2000, accessed January 28, 2013 .
  2. ↑ JM Whittaker : Aitken, Alexander Craig (1895-1967) . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press , 2004 (English).
  3. ^ Hunter : An exceptional talent for calculative thinking . 1962, p.  243-258 .
  4. ↑ The information varies. 707 and 1000 digits are also quoted - maybe he lost interest afterwards. He knew the 96 recurring digits from 1/97 by heart. He was able to multiply nine-digit numbers in 30 seconds and form the reciprocal of 26-digit numbers in less than five seconds. When the list of soldiers in his company was lost near Armentiéres in World War I , he was able to recite all the names with numbers from memory.
  5. ↑ Alexander Craig Aitken : On least squares and linear combinations of observations . In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . Volume 55 , 1935, pp.  42 (English).
  6. ↑ Alexander Craig Aitken : On the Estimation of Statistical Parameters . In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . Volume 61 , 1942, pp.  186 (English).
  7. ↑ NZMS Aitken Prize (Student Prize) . New Zealand Mathematical Society , accessed March 29, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Aitken, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aitken, Alexander Craig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Dunedin
DATE OF DEATH 3rd November 1967
Place of death Edinburgh