Hyman Levy

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Hyman Levy (born February 28, 1889 in Edinburgh , † February 27, 1975 in Wimbledon , London ) was a British mathematician, philosopher and political activist.

Life and activity

Levy was the third of eight children of the art dealer Marcus Levy and Minna Cohen. After attending George Heriot's School, he studied at the University of Göttingen with the help of a scholarship . Due to the outbreak of World War I, he returned to Great Britain in 1914. He continued his education at the Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford , eventually earning a Masters degree and a British D.Sc. -Graduation.

In later years Levy served at the National Physical Laboratory . Based on his work there, he wrote numerous papers in the 1920s and 1930s on the utilization of mathematical principles for the then still young science of aeronautics . He also dealt with differential equations and with probability theory .

Levy later moved to become a professor of mathematics at the Royal College of Science at Imperial College London, where he also took on the role of head of the mathematics faculty. In recognition of his achievements in this position, he was eventually appointed Dean of the Royal College.

After Levy had been a political member of the Labor Party from 1920 to 1931 , he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1931 .

Due to his position as a prominent British Communist and Jew, Levy was targeted by the National Socialist police forces in 1940 at the latest, who classified him as an important target: In the spring of 1940, the Reich Security Main Office in Berlin put him on the special wanted list GB , a directory of people belonging to the Nazi surveillance apparatus regarded as particularly dangerous or important, which is why they should be located and arrested with special priority in the event of a successful invasion and occupation of the British Isles by the SS special commandos following the occupation forces.

Since 1916 he was a member ( Fellow ) of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

family

In 1918 Levy married Marion Aitken Fraser with whom he had three children.

Fonts

  • Practical Mathematical Analysis: With Examples , 1913.
  • Finite Difference Equations , 1928.
  • Aspects of Dialectical Materialism , London 1935. (with Ralph Fox)
  • Modern Engineering Theory & Practice , Odhams Press Ltd, 1935. (with Bailey Levy)
  • Elements of Probability , 1936.
  • Modern Science - A Study of Physical Science in the World Today , Hamish Hamilton, 1939.
  • Science: Curse Or Blessing? , Watts & Co., 1940.
  • Elementary Mathematics , Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1942.
  • Soviet Jews at War , Russia Today Society, 1943.
  • Elementary Statistics , (= Nelson's Aeroscience Manuals) Nelson, 1945.
  • Social Thinking , Cobbett, 1945.
  • The Crisis of Physics , 1950.
  • Numerical solutions of differential equations , 1950.
  • Literature for an Age of Science , Methuen, 1952.
  • Jews and the National Question , Hillway Pub. Co., London 1958.
  • Finite Difference Equations , 1959. (together with F. lessman)
  • Elementary Statistics , Nelson, London 1959.

literature

  • John Stewart: Levy, Hyman (1889–1975) , in: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , 2004.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry on Levy on the special wanted list GB (reproduced on the website of the Imperial War Museum in London) .
  2. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed January 1, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Levy, Hyman
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British mathematician, philosopher and political activist
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Edinburgh
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1975
Place of death Wimbledon