George Chrystal

George Chrystal (etching by W. Hole)

George Chrystal (born March 8, 1851 in Oldmeldrum , † November 3, 1911 in Edinburgh ) was a Scottish mathematician .

Life

George Chrystals father, William Chrystal, had earned enough as a grain merchant to buy land and go into production himself. His mother was Margaret Burr, daughter of James Burr from Mains of Glaik in Aberdeenshire . The family lived in Mill of Kingoodie where Chrystal received his early school education in Old Meldrum. He was a bright child who received little physical exercise because of his physical handicap.

Around 1863 the family moved to Aberdeen , where the boy attended the Aberdeen Grammar School. In 1866, Chrystal won the Williamson Scholarship for best third grade student and in 1867 a silver medal. He started studying at the University of Aberdeen . According to Chrystals own statements, he had received practically no mathematical education by the time he started studying. He attributes the good mathematical education at the university to Professors Fuller and Thomson, who trained the young men with the support of a private tutor.

In 1871 he graduated with the highest honors in mathematics and natural philosophy . He was awarded the Town's Gold Medal for the best student of the year. He was also considering a scholarship for the Peterhouse at the University of Cambridge , where Chrystal came under the influence of James Clerk Maxwell in 1872 , who had taken over the Cavendish Professorship in Experimental Physics the previous year. It is true that Chrystal laments about the unenlightening education, which he considered to be significantly worse than that given in Scotland. At the same time, according to his own statements, he got to know a cross-section of the brightest minds of his generators in the kingdom. In 1875 he completed his studies in Cambridge. He was honored next to William Burnside as Second Wrangler , the designation for the second best math student of a year.

He was elected a Fellow of Corpus Christi College and taught there for two years while at the same time working at the Cavendish Laboratory under Maxwell on an experimental confirmation of Ohm's laws . In 1877 Chrystal applied for the vacant Regius Professorship of Mathematics at the University of St Andrews , which he was awarded with the best recommendations of his teachers.

At St Andrews he showed himself to be a capable teacher and also wrote articles for the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica on subjects relating to electricity , magnetism and other subjects. In 1879 Chrystal applied for the now vacant professorship in mathematics at Edinburgh University , where he taught until the end of his career.

In the same year he went on a trip to Germany, where he married his childhood friend Ann Balfour in Bonn . In 1891, Chrystal, as dean, made some major program reforms that gave students more freedom in choosing subjects. Although Chrystal held the mathematics professorship, he continued to do laboratory research, where practical work brought him into contact with students who saw him more often than their actual teacher, Peter Guthrie Tait . Chrystal was also convincing here as an accessible and helpful tutor.

George Chrystal was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1880. He served the society on the board of directors and in 1901 succeeded Tait as general secretary of the society. Under Chrystal's leadership, the company had to leave the building it had used for 80 years, but Chrystal obtained fair compensation for the company and was able to use the GBP 25,000 to purchase a property at 22-24 George Street, Edinburgh, where the Society resides with some acquisitions to date.

He published most of his scientific work in the organ of the society. Chrystal's mathematical publications cover many topics including non-Euclidean geometry , determinants , conic sections , optics, and differential equations . He also wrote a well-known book on algebra ( Algebra. An Elementary Text-Book for the Higher Classes of Secondary Schools and for Colleges , ISBN 0-8218-1648-9 ).

He was a founding and honorary member of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society , in whose development he was instrumental. He received the Gunning Victoria Award from the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his hydrological investigations on the Lochs Earn , Tay and Lubnaig . The royal confirmation of the award of the Royal Medal of the Royal Society did not arrive until two hours after his death.

Joseph Wedderburn was his student.

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• George Chrystal in the Mathematics Genealogy Project (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af} J. J. O'Connor, EF Robertson: George Chrystal. Born: 8 March 1851 in Old Meldrum (near Aberdeen), Scotland / Died: 3 November 1911 in Edinburgh, Scotland. In: McTutor. October 2003, accessed March 12, 2020 .  
2. ↑ ^{a b} JJ O'Connor and EF Robertson (2003) Herbert Turnbull ; on the University of St Andrews website; accessed on November 27, 2015.