John Edensor Littlewood - Life

Life

Littlewood was born in Rochester in Kent. He lived in Wynberg in Cape Town from 1892 to 1900 where his father (a 9th wrangler) was a headmaster. He then attended St Paul's School in London for three years, where he was taught by F. S. Macaulay, now known for his contributions to ideal theory. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and was the Senior Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos of 1905. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1908 and, apart from three years as Richardson Lecturer in the University of Manchester, his entire career was spent in the University of Cambridge. He was appointed Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in 1928, retiring in 1950. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1916, awarded the Royal Medal in 1929, the Sylvester Medal in 1943 and the Copley Medal in 1958. He was president of the London Mathematical Society from 1941 to 1943, and was awarded the De Morgan Medal in 1938 and the Senior Berwick Prize in 1960.

John Edensor Littlewood was born in 1885, the son of Edward Thornton Littlewood and Sylvia Ackland. His unusual middle name came was the maiden name of his great-great-grandmother Sarah Edensor, who married Thomas Littlewood.

Read more about this topic:  John Edensor Littlewood

Famous quotes containing the word life:

    A simple child,
    That lightly draws its breath,
    And feels its life in every limb,
    What should it know of death?
    William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

    On such a night, when Air has loosed
    Its guardian grasp on blood and brain,
    Old terrors then of god or ghost
    Creep from their caves to life again;
    Robert Bridges (1844–1930)

    [The sceptic] must acknowledge, if he will acknowledge any thing, that all human life must perish, were his principles to prevail. All discourse, all action would immediately cease, and men remain in a total lethargy, till the necessities of nature, unsatisfied, put an end to their miserable existence.
    David Hume (1711–1776)