Charles Cook (academic)

{{Short description|Mathematician (1843–1910)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=June 2014}}

File:Charles Henry Herbert Cook.jpg [Canterbury Provincial District]" 1903.]]

Charles Henry Herbert Cook (30 September 1843{{snd}}21 May 1910) was an English-born, Australian-raised, New Zealand-based mathematician. He was born in Kentish Town, Middlesex, England, on 30 September 1843, but educated in Melbourne, Australia, where he got a BA and an LLB from University of Melbourne. He then went to St John's College, Cambridge, initially to train for the English Bar but became interested in mathematics.

In 1874, a year before being due to be called to the bar, Cook was appointed founding head of mathematics at Canterbury College, University of New Zealand (now Canterbury University).{{cite web|author=Cyclopedia Company Limited |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz//tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc03Cycl-t1-body1-d3-d20-d6.html |title=Professor Charles Henry Herbert Cook|publisher=Nzetc.victoria.ac.nz |accessdate=2013-07-11}} He joined co-founders John Macmillan Brown and Alexander Bickerton in Christchurch, New Zealand, and initially focused on Latin and mathematics. He was also involved in promoting the establishment of the University's engineering school.{{cite web|author=S. H. Jenkinson |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz//tm/scholarly/tei-JenNewZ-t1-body-d8.html |title=8 – The Early Professors|publisher=Nzetc.victoria.ac.nz |accessdate=2013-07-11}} He is remembered primarily for his teaching; Nobel Prize–winning physicist Ernest Rutherford cited him as an influence:{{DNZB|title=Charles Henry Herbert Cook|first= W. J.|last= Gardner|id=2c30|accessdate=23 April 2017}}{{cite web|author=S. H. Jenkinson |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz//tm/scholarly/tei-JenNewZ-t1-body-d9.html |title=9 – Rutherford|publisher=Nzetc.victoria.ac.nz |date=1937-10-19 |accessdate=2013-07-11}}

:Cook was evidently a sound mathematician and an excellent teacher along orthodox lines, with no marked tendency to stray from those lines.Rutherford: Life and work to the year 1919, with personal reminiscences of the Manchester period. H. R. Robinson. Proceedings of the Physical Society, {{issn|0959-5309}}, 05/1943, Volume 55, Issue 3, pp. 161–182

He was involved in secondary education, acting as an examiner for the New Zealand Department of Education and holding a fellowship at the Anglican Christ's College, Christchurch from 1891 to 1908.

Cook was a member of the Royal Commission on Higher Education 1878–1800{{cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WH18781129.2.19 |title=Papers Past — Wanganui Herald — 29 November 1878 — ROYAL COMMISSION ON EDUCATION |publisher=Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |accessdate=2013-07-11}} and a member of the senate of the University of New Zealand.

In 1903, Cook appeared in the vanity press The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, with a photo and short article. He died in Marton, New Zealand, on 21 May 1910.