Sylvia Skan

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Sylvia Skan (born August 15, 1897 in Bickenhill , West Midlands (Metropolitan County) , England , † June 10, 1972 ) was a British mathematician. She is known for her work on aerodynamics , especially for the Falkner-Skan boundary layer in the fluid mechanics of the air flow past a wedge-shaped obstacle and for the Falkner-Skan equation associated with it .

life and work

Skan was born the eldest of five children to the botanist Sidney Alfred Skan and his wife Jane Alkins. At the time of the 1901 census, the family lived in Richmond , Surrey ; at the time of the 1911 census, they lived in Twickenham , Middlesex , England. She learned mathematics and physics at a very high level, because from 1923 she worked in the aerodynamics department of the National Physical Laboratory . However, she does not appear to have a university degree, which does not necessarily mean that she did not attend Oxford University or Cambridge University , as women did not receive official degrees at the time. Another fact about her education is that she must have learned several languages ​​in order to later translate French, German and Russian papers. In addition to co-authored research, 17 of which she listed as the first author, her work included translations of research papers from French, German and Russian into English and a two-volume book "Handbook for Computers", which describes the mathematics required for human computers .

Publications (selection)

  • Richard Vynne Southwell , Sylvia W Skan: On the Stability under Shearing Forces of a Flat Elastic Strip, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 1924
  • William Lewis Cowley, Sylvia W Skan: A simplified analysis of the stability of airplanes, 1930
  • William Lewis Cowley, Sylvia W Skan: A study of polynomial equations, 1930
  • VM Falkner and Sylvia W Skan: Some approximate solutions of the boundary layer equations, 1930
  • Newby Curle, Sylvia W Skan: Calculated Leading-Edge Laminar Separations from some RAE Aerofoils, 1960
  • Sylvia W Skan: Handbook for computers, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, 1954
  • Newby Curle, Sylvia W Skan: Approximate methods for predicting separation properties of laminar boundary layers, 1957
  • Newby Curle , Sylvia W Skan: Calculated Leading-Edge Laminar Separations from some RAE Aerofoils, 1960

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Skan, Sylvia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Skan, Sylvia Winfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Bickenhill , West Midlands (Metropolitan County)
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 1972