Ernest William Barnes

Ernest William Barnes (around 1890)

Ernest William Barnes (born April 1, 1874 in Birmingham , England , † November 29, 1953 in Sussex ) was an English mathematician and theologian .

Life

Barnes's parents were teachers and Barnes went to school in Birmingham. In 1893 he began studying mathematics at Trinity College of Cambridge University , where he was in 1896 Second Wrangler. In 1898 he won the Smith Prize and became a Fellow of Trinity. In 1902 he became a lecturer and in 1908 a tutor. In 1907 he received the Sc.D. in Cambridge. In 1909 he was elected to the Royal Society. At the same time he embarked on a theological career as a student - he was ordained a deacon in 1902, and in 1915 he left Cambridge to become Master of the Temple in London. In 1918 he was canon at Westminster Abbey and in 1924 Bishop of Birmingham. In 1952 he retired.

During his time as bishop he was controversial because of his often unorthodox views, for example through his book The Rise of Christianity , published in 1947 .

Barnes wrote 29 mathematical papers. The early ones deal with the gamma function . A key achievement was that he introduced a higher gamma function called the Barnes G function, the functional equation

${\displaystyle G(z+1)=G(z)\Gamma (z)}$

enough.

Barnes was married and had two sons.

Web links

• John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson :  Ernest William Barnes. In: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .
• Eric W. Weisstein: Barnes, Ernest (1874–1953) on ScienceWorld

predecessor	Office	successor
Henry Wakefield	Bishop of Birmingham 1924–1953	Leonard Wilson