George Gibson (mathematician)
{{Short description|Scottish mathematician and academic author}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}
George Alexander Gibson FRSE LLD (19 April 1858 – 1 April 1930) was a Scottish mathematician and academic writer.
Life
He was born on 19 April 1858 in Greenlaw in Berwickshire the third son of Robert Gibson JP (1830–1903). He attended the free church school in the parish, and showing great promise, went to the University of Glasgow where he graduated with an MA in 1882 and immediately joined the university staff.
In 1889, aged 29, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, Prof William Jack, Sir Thomas Muir and George Chrystal. He served as the society's vice president from 1917 to 1920. He also served as president of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|access-date=4 July 2016|archive-date=24 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|url-status=dead}} In 1895 he became a professor of mathematics at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College. In 1909 he returned to the University of Glasgow as a professor, replacing his mentor Prof William Jack.
Gibson lived on campus at 10 The university, Glasgow.Glasgow Post Office Directory 1910–11 The University of Edinburgh awarded him an honorary doctorate (LLD) in 1905 and the University of Glasgow did likewise in 1927, the year of his retiral.
Death
He died at Scotstounhill in Glasgow on 1 April 1930.{{Cite journal|last=M|first=T. M.|date=May 1930|title=Prof. George A. Gibson|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=125|issue=3158|pages=713–714|doi=10.1038/125713a0|issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free}} On his death the Gibson Memorial Lecture was founded. The first lecturer in this series was Albert Einstein. Other lecturers include Charles Coulson and Edward Collingwood.{{Cite web|url=http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Gibson.html|title=George Gibson (1858–1930)|website=www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk|access-date=2019-06-21}}
Family
Publications
- {{cite book | last = Gibson | first = George A | date = 1901 | title = An Elementary Treatise on the Calculus with illustrations from geometry, mechanics and physics | publisher = Macmillan | place = London | url= https://archive.org/details/elementarytreati00gibsuoft}}
- {{cite book | last = Gibson | first = George A | date = 1904 | title = An introduction to the calculus, based on graphical methods | publisher = Macmillan | place = London | url= https://archive.org/details/introductiontoca00gibsuoft}}
- {{cite book | last = Gibson | first = George A | date = 1905 | title = An Elementary Treatise on Graphs | publisher = Macmillan | place = London | url= https://archive.org/details/eletreatgraph00gibsrich}}
- {{cite journal | last = Gibson | first = George A | date = 1927 | title = Sketch of the History of Mathematics in Scotland to the end of the 18th Century: Part I | journal = Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society | volume = 1 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–18| doi = 10.1017/S0013091500007276 | doi-access = free }}
- {{cite journal | last = Gibson | first = George A | date = 1928 | title = Sketch of the History of Mathematics in Scotland to the end of the 18th Century: Part II | journal = Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society | volume = 1 | issue = 2 | pages = 71–93| doi = 10.1017/S0013091500007409 | doi-access = free }}
References
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Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow
Category:Academics of the University of Glasgow
Category:Scottish mathematicians