Nigel Weiss
{{Short description|Professor of mathematics and astronomy (1936–2020)}}
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{{Infobox scientist
|name = Nigel Weiss
| birth_name = Nigel Oscar Weiss
|image = Nigel_Weiss.gif
|image_size =
|caption =
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1936|12|16}}
|birth_place = South Africa
|death_date = {{death date and age|2020|06|24|1936|12|16|df=yes}}{{R|Twitter}}
|death_place =
|residence =
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|nationality =
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|fields =
|workplaces = University of Cambridge
|alma_mater = Clare College, Cambridge
| thesis_title = Variable Hydromagnetic Motions
| thesis_url =
| thesis_year = 1961
|doctoral_advisor = Edward Bullard
|academic_advisor =
|doctoral_students = {{Plainlist|
|notable_students =
|known_for = flux expulsion
|influences =
|influenced =
|awards = {{Plainlist|
- FRS (1992)
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (2007)}}
|religion =
|signature =
| website = {{URL|damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/now|Nigel Weiss's home page}}
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}}
Nigel Oscar Weiss FRS{{Cite journal |last=Proctor |first=Michael |date=2023 |title=Nigel Oscar Weiss. 16 December 1936 — 24 June 2020 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society |volume=74|pages=439–456 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.2022.0039 |doi-access=free }} (16 December 1936 – 24 June 2020){{R|whoswho|Twitter}} was an astronomer and mathematician, and leader in the field of astrophysical and geophysical fluid dynamics. He was Emeritus Professor of Mathematical Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge.
Education
Born in South Africa, Weiss studied at Hilton College, Natal, Rugby School and Clare College, Cambridge, and had been a fellow of Clare College since 1965. He read for his PhD in 1961 with a thesis on Variable Hydromagnetic Motions.
Career
In 1987 he became Professor of Mathematical Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge.
Between 2000 and 2002 he was President of the Royal Astronomical Society, and in 2007 was awarded the Gold Medal, the society's highest award.
Research
Weiss published extensively in the field of mathematical astrophysics, specialising in solar and stellar magnetic fields, astrophysical and geophysical fluid dynamics and nonlinear dynamical systems.
In 1966 he was the first to demonstrate and describe the process of 'flux expulsion' by which a conducting fluid undergoing rotating motion acts to expel the magnetic flux from the region of motion, a process now known to occur in the photosphere of the Sun and other stars.
Awards and honours
Weiss was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1992. His nomination reads {{centred pull quote|Professor Weiss is distinguished for his work in the theory of convection, for developing appropriate numerical techniques, and for pioneering their use in precise numerical experiments to gain a qualitative and comprehensive understanding of the behaviour of complicated nonlinear systems. Among many notable achievements in this field, he has been instrumental in the identification of a period-doubling route to chaos in a system of partial differential equations describing doubly-diffusive convection. He has made wide-ranging studies of the magneto-convective processes occurring in the Sun and similar stars. In early work of lasting influence, he analysed the process of magnetic flux expulsion and the mechanism of concentration of magnetic field into ropes from which fluid motion is excluded. In recent work, he has initiated a program of research in the field of nonlinear compressible convection, an important step towards realistic modelling of stellar convection zones.}}
References
{{reflist|refs=
{{MathGenealogy |id=50416}}
{{cite web|url=http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/now/|title=Nigel Weiss's home page|date=23 June 2020 |publisher=DAMTP}}
{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1098/rspa.1966.0173| title = The Expulsion of Magnetic Flux by Eddies| journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences| volume = 293| issue = 1434| pages = 310–328| year = 1966| last1 = Weiss | first1 = N. O.|bibcode = 1966RSPSA.293..310W | s2cid = 121923566}}
{{cite web |url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC%2F1992%2F38%27) |title=EC/1992/38: Weiss, Nigel Oscar. Library and Archive Catalogue |publisher=The Royal Society |archive-date=8 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708141655/https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=%28RefNo%3D%3D%27EC%2F1992%2F38%27%29 |location=London |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}
{{Scopus|id=7201692694}}
{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1023/A:1005026001784| year = 1998| last1 = Beer | first1 = J. R. | journal = Solar Physics| volume = 181| issue = 1|title=An Active Sun Throughout the Maunder Minimum| pages = 237–249| last2 = Tobias | first2 = S. | last3 = Weiss | first3 = N. | bibcode = 1998SoPh..181..237B| s2cid = 122019951| url = https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/eawag/islandora/object/eawag%3A3949| url-access = subscription}}
{{cite web |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U39259|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U39259 |title=WEISS, Prof. Nigel Oscar|work=Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press }}{{subscription required|accessdate=24 April 2019}}
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{{FRS 1992}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Nigel Oscar}}
Category:South African astronomers
Category:South African mathematicians
Category:Cambridge mathematicians
Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge
Category:Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge
Category:Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society
Category:South African scientists
Category:White South African people