John Henry Michell
Encyclopedia
John Henry Michell FRS was an Australia
n mathematician
, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Melbourne
.
. His parents had migrated from Devon
shire in 1854. Educated at first at Maldon, he went to Wesley College, Melbourne
, in 1877, where he won the Draper and Walter Powell scholarships. In 1881 he began the arts course at the University of Melbourne, and qualified for the B.A.
degree at the end of 1883. He had an outstanding course, heading the list with first-class honours each year, and winning the final honour scholarship in mathematics and physics.
Michell then went to the University of Cambridge
, obtained a major scholarship at Trinity College
, and was bracketed senior wrangler with three others in the first part of the mathematical tripos
in 1887. In the second part of the tripos in 1888, Michell was placed in division one of the first class.
later the same year, and was appointed lecturer in mathematics at Melbourne University. He held this position for over 30 years. His academic work occupied so much of his time that it was difficult to do original research. The first of his papers, "On the theory of free streamlines", which appeared in Transactions of the Royal Society in 1890, had drawn attention to his ability as a mathematician, and during the following 12 years about 15 papers were contributed to English mathematical journals. It was recognized that these were important contributions to the knowledge of hydrodynamics and elasticity, and in 1902 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society
, London. The number of his students at the University steadily increased, but there was no corresponding staff increase for a long while. Michell continued his research work but none of it was published. In 1923 he became professor of mathematics and, obtaining some increase of staff, established practice-classes and tutorials, thus considerably improving the efficiency of his department. Michell resigned the chair at the end of 1928 and was given the title of honorary research professor. He died after a short illness on 3 February 1940 at Camberwell
. Michell did not marry. Michell published The Elements of Mathematical Analysis (1937), a substantial work in two volumes written in collaboration with Maurice Belz.
(born 1870) made significant contributions to mechanical science, including the famous Michell thrust bearing.
During a relatively short research career, Michell published 23 scientific papers that are some of the most important contributions ever made by an Australian mathematician.
A mini-symposium has held at the 3rd Biennial Engineering Mathematics and Applications Conference (EMAC '98) celebrating the centenary of the publication of Michell's famous 1898 paper on ship hydrodynamics, The wave resistance of a ship, Phil. Mag. (5) 45 (1898) 106-123.
Since 1999, The JH Michell Medal has been awarded by ANZIAM in his honour.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
.
Early life
Michell was the son of John Michell , a miner, and his wife Grace, née Rowse and was born at Maldon, VictoriaMaldon, Victoria
Maldon is a town in Victoria, Australia, in the Shire of Mount Alexander local government area. It has been designated "Australia's first notable town" and is celebrated for its 19th-century appearance, maintained since gold-rush days...
. His parents had migrated from Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
shire in 1854. Educated at first at Maldon, he went to Wesley College, Melbourne
Wesley College, Melbourne
Wesley College, Melbourne is an independent, co-educational, Christian day school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1866, the college is a school of the Uniting Church in Australia. Wesley is the largest school in Australia by enrolment, with 3,511 students and 564 full-time staff...
, in 1877, where he won the Draper and Walter Powell scholarships. In 1881 he began the arts course at the University of Melbourne, and qualified for the B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree at the end of 1883. He had an outstanding course, heading the list with first-class honours each year, and winning the final honour scholarship in mathematics and physics.
Michell then went to the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, obtained a major scholarship at Trinity College
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, and was bracketed senior wrangler with three others in the first part of the mathematical tripos
Tripos
The University of Cambridge, England, divides the different kinds of honours bachelor's degree by Tripos , plural Triposes. The word has an obscure etymology, but may be traced to the three-legged stool candidates once used to sit on when taking oral examinations...
in 1887. In the second part of the tripos in 1888, Michell was placed in division one of the first class.
University of Melbourne
Michell was elected a fellow of Trinity in 1890, but returned to MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
later the same year, and was appointed lecturer in mathematics at Melbourne University. He held this position for over 30 years. His academic work occupied so much of his time that it was difficult to do original research. The first of his papers, "On the theory of free streamlines", which appeared in Transactions of the Royal Society in 1890, had drawn attention to his ability as a mathematician, and during the following 12 years about 15 papers were contributed to English mathematical journals. It was recognized that these were important contributions to the knowledge of hydrodynamics and elasticity, and in 1902 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, London. The number of his students at the University steadily increased, but there was no corresponding staff increase for a long while. Michell continued his research work but none of it was published. In 1923 he became professor of mathematics and, obtaining some increase of staff, established practice-classes and tutorials, thus considerably improving the efficiency of his department. Michell resigned the chair at the end of 1928 and was given the title of honorary research professor. He died after a short illness on 3 February 1940 at Camberwell
Camberwell, Victoria
Camberwell is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara. At the 2006 Census, Camberwell had a population of 19,637....
. Michell did not marry. Michell published The Elements of Mathematical Analysis (1937), a substantial work in two volumes written in collaboration with Maurice Belz.
Legacy
Michell was regarded as a shy man and was one of the earliest graduates of an Australian university to be elected to the Royal Society. He was a good teacher, good-natured and patient with students, but his heart was really in his research work. His assistance was freely given to his engineering friends in clearing up their problems, and he did a good deal of physical experimentation including the devising and construction of several new forms of gyroscopes. He was continually at work, and it is not known why he did not choose to publish any papers after 1902. The value of his paper on "The wave resistance of a ship", published in 1898, was not realized until some 30 years later, when both English and German designers began to recognize its importance. Michell's brother, Anthony MichellAnthony Michell
Anthony George Maldon Michell FRS was an Australian mechanical engineer of the early 20th century.-Early life:...
(born 1870) made significant contributions to mechanical science, including the famous Michell thrust bearing.
During a relatively short research career, Michell published 23 scientific papers that are some of the most important contributions ever made by an Australian mathematician.
A mini-symposium has held at the 3rd Biennial Engineering Mathematics and Applications Conference (EMAC '98) celebrating the centenary of the publication of Michell's famous 1898 paper on ship hydrodynamics, The wave resistance of a ship, Phil. Mag. (5) 45 (1898) 106-123.
Since 1999, The JH Michell Medal has been awarded by ANZIAM in his honour.
Publications of J.H. Michell
- The small deformation of curves and surfaces with applications to the vibrations of a helix and a circular ring, Messeng. Math. 19, (1890) 68-82.
- On the exhaustion of Neumann's mode of solution for the motion of solids of revolution in liquids, and similar problems, Messeng. Math. 19 (1890) 83-86.
- Vibrations of a string stretched on a surface, Messeng. Math. 19 (1890) 87-88.
- On the stability of a bent and twisted wire, Messeng. Math. 19 (1890) 181-184.
- On the theory of free stream lines, Phil. Trans. A. 181 (1890) 389-431.
- On a property of algebraic curves, Australasian Assoc. Adv. Sci. Report (1892) 257.
- On the bulging of flat plates, Australasian Assoc. Adv. Sci. Report (1892) 258.
- The highest waves in water, Phil. Mag. (5) 36 (1893) 430-437.
- A map of the complex Z-function: a condenser problem, Messeng. Math. 23 (1894) 72-78.
- The wave resistance of a ship, Phil. Mag. (5) 45 (1898) 106-123.
- On the direct determination of stress in an elastic solid, with application to the theory of plates, Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 31 (1899) 100-124.
- The stress in a rotating lamina, Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 31 (1899) 124-130.
- The uniform torsion and flexure of incomplete tores, with application to helical springs,Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 31 (1899) 130-146.
- The transmission of stress across a plane of discontinuity in an isotropic elastic solid, and the potential solutions for a plane boundary,Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 31 (1899) 183-192.
- Some elementary distributions of stress in three dimensions, Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 32 (1900) 23-35.
- Elementary distributions of plane stress, Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 32 (1900) 35-61.
- The stress in an aeolotropic elastic solid with an infinite plane boundary,Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 32 (1900) 247-258.
- The stress in the web of a plate girder, Quart. J. Pure Appl. Math. 31 (1900) 377-382.
- The theory of uniformly loaded beams, Quart. J. Pure Appl. Math. 32 (1900) 28-42.
- The determination of the stress in an isotropic elastic sphere by means of intrinsic equations, Messeng. Math. n.s. 350 (1900) 16-25.
- The uniplanar stability of a rigid body, Messeng. Math. n.s. 351 (1900) 35-40.
- The inversion of plane stress, Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 34 (1902) 134-142.
- The flexure of a circular plate, Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 34 (1902) 223-228.
- (with M.H. Belz) The elements of mathematical analysis (2 vols) Macmillan 1937.
Further reading
- E.O. Tuck, "The wave resistance formula of J.H. Michell (1898) and its significance to recent research in ship hydrodynamics", J. Austral. Math. Soc. Series B 30 (989) 365-377;
- A. Goriely, "Twisted elastic rings and the rediscoveries of Michell's instability", J. Elasticity 84, 281 - 299. (2006)