Douglas Jones (mathematician)

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix = Professor

| name = Douglas Jones

| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE|FRS|FRSE}}

| image = Douglas_Jones_(mathematician).png

| alt =

| caption =

| office = Ivory Professor of Mathematics, Queen's College, Dundee/University of Dundee

| term_start = 1965

| term_end = 1992

| office2 = Professor of Mathematics, University College of North Staffordshire/University of Keele

| term_start2 = 1957

| term_end2 = 1964

| birth_name = Douglas Samuel Jones

| birth_date = 10 January 1922

| birth_place = Corby, Northamptonshire, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|11|29|1922|01|10|df=yes}}

| death_place =

| nationality =

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}}

Douglas Samuel Jones (10 January 1922 – 29 November 2013) was a mathematician and electrical engineer known for his works in the field of electromagnetism.

He was described by The Scotsman as "one of the most outstanding British mathematicians of his generation".{{cite news|last=Sleeman|first=Brian|title=Obituary: Professor Douglas Jones FRS, FRSE, mathematician |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-professor-douglas-jones-frs-frse-mathematician-2002685 |accessdate=17 January 2014 |newspaper=The Scotsman |date=17 January 2014}}

Life

Jones was born 10 January 1922 in Corby Northamptonshire, and was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School. He was the eldest of four children.{{cite web|title=UR-SF 81 Professor Douglas Samuel Jones, Ivory Professor of Applied Mathematics, University of Dundee|url=http://arccat.dundee.ac.uk/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28RefNo%3D%27ur-sf%2081%27%29|website=Archive Services Online Catalogue|publisher=University of Dundee|accessdate=27 February 2018}}

In his spare time, Jones was known to enjoy golf, walking and photography.{{cite book|title=JONES, Prof. Douglas Samuel in Who's Who 2014|year=2014|publisher=A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc}} He and his wife Ivy had two children.

Career

In 1940, Jones began studying electrical engineering at Clarendon Laboratory of the Corpus Christi College, Oxford University.{{cite journal | last1=Sleeman | first1=B. D. | last2=Abrahams | first2=I. D. | author2-link=David Abrahams (mathematician) | title=Douglas Samuel Jones MBE (10 January 1922 — 26 November 2013) | journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume=61 | date=2015 | issn=0080-4606 | doi=10.1098/rsbm.2015.0005 | pages=203–224 | url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.2015.0005 | access-date= February 28, 2024}}

Jones joined the RAF in 1942 and graduated MA in applied mathematics from Oxford in 1947. He then went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study electrical engineering, but switched to physics, studying under Victor Weisskopf, Herman Feshbach, and Robley Evans.{{cite web |last1=O'Connor |first1=J. J. |last2=Robertson |first2=E. F. |title=Douglas Samuel Jones' Biography |url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Jones_Douglas/ |website=MacTutor |access-date=23 December 2023 |date=January 2019}} In the same years he led a research team looking at equipment for night fighter operations. Awarded MBE in 1945 for his work with the RAF.

Jones then worked as a lecturer at Manchester University. In 1957 he was appointed chair of Mathematics at the University of Keele.

During his time at Keele, Jones wrote the book The Theory of Electromagnetism in 1964 which established him as a leader in this field.

In 1965, Jones was appointed to the Ivory Chair of Applied Mathematics at Queen's College, Dundee, then part of the University of St Andrews, but which became the University of Dundee in 1967.

Jones retired from the University of Dundee in 1992, gaining the title Emeritus Professor.