Walter Brown (mathematician)
Walter Brown | |
|---|---|
| Born | 29 April 1886  Glasgow |
| Died | 14 April 1957 (aged 70) Marondera |
| Alma mater | |
| Employer |
|
Walter Brown FRSE (29 April 1886, Glasgow – 14 April 1957, Marandellas, Rhodesia) was a Scottish mathematician and engineer.
Life
[edit]The younger son of Hugh A. Brown, a headmaster in Paisley, Walter was educated at Allan Glen's School and then studied at the University of Glasgow (BSc Hons Mathematics and Physics 1907; and BSc Pure Science 1910). He began his career as a teacher at Allan Glen's. Brown became a member of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society in March 1911.[1]
In 1914 he took up the post of Lecturer in Engineering at Hong Kong University. He was soon promoted to become Professor in Pure and Applied Mathematics, a post he held from 1918 to 1946.[2]
In 1920 he was elected an Associate Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. In 1923 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Andrew Gray, George Alexander Gibson, John Walter Gregory, John Gordon Gray and Dugald McQuistan.[3]
He was President of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society, and a member of the Hong Kong English Association, the Hong Kong Sino-British Association, and the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers and Shipbuilders.
A member of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Brown was captured when Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese, and he was held as a Prisoner of War at Stanley Camp (1941–45). He organised study groups in the internment camp, and helped attend to the medical needs of the prisoners.[4]
Returning to Scotland after the war, he taught civil and mechanical engineering at the Royal Technical College in Glasgow (1946–47), and mathematics at the University of Glasgow (1947–48).
He travelled extensively and died in Marandellas in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in April 1957.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ "Biography". School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
- ^ "Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002" (PDF). Royal Society of Edinburgh. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2006. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
- ^ a b "University of Glasgow :: International Story :: Professor Walter Brown". internationalstory.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
- ^ Royal Society of Edinburgh Year Book 1958.
- 1886 births
- 1957 deaths
- Academics from Glasgow
- Scottish mathematicians
- Scottish electrical engineers
- People educated at Allan Glen's School
- World War II prisoners of war held by Japan
- Academic staff of the University of Hong Kong
- Alumni of the University of Glasgow
- Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- Academics of the University of Strathclyde
- Academics of the University of Glasgow
- Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II
- 20th-century Scottish engineers