Mathematician:George Green

Mathematician

Famously (and mystifyingly) self-taught English mathematical physicist best known for Green's Theorem.

Did pioneering work on electromagnetism.

Nationality

English

History

• Born: July 1793, Nottingham, England (exact date unknown)
• 14 July 1793: Baptised
• 1801 - 1802: Attended Robert Goodacre's school for four terms (exhausting everything they could teach him)
• Died: 31 May 1841, Sneinton, Nottinghamshire, England

Theorems and Definitions

• Green's Theorem
• Green's Functions
• Discrete Green's Theorem
• Green's Identities
• Green's Matrix
• Green Measure
• Cauchy-Green Tensor (with Augustin Louis Cauchy)
• Liouville-Green Method of Approximations (with Joseph Liouville), also known as the LG Method, or the WKB Method (after Gregor Wentzel, Hendrik Anthony Kramers and Léon Nicolas Brillouin)

Results named for George Green can be found here.

Definitions of concepts named for George Green can be found here.

Publications

Dates given below which are specific are the dates when the papers were first read before an audience.

• 1828: An Essay on the Application of Mathematical Analysis to the Theories of Electricity and Magnetism
• 12 November 1832: Mathematical Investigations concerning the Laws of the Equilibrium of Fluids analogous to the Electric Fluid, with other similar Researches
• 6 May 1833: On the Determination of the Exterior and Interior Attractions of Ellipsoids of Variable Densities
• 16 December 1833: Researches on the Vibration of Pendulums in Fluid Media
• 15 May 1837: On the Motion of Waves in a Variable Canal of Small Width and Depth
• 11 December 1837: On the Reflexion and Refraction of Sound
• 11 December 1837: On the Laws of Relexion and Refraction of Light at the common Surface of two non-crystallized Media
• 18 February 1839: Note on the Motion of Waves in Canals
• 6 May 1839: Supplement to a Memoir on the Reflexion and Refraction of Light
• 20 May 1839 On the Propagation of Light in Crystallized Media

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "George Green": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Green, George (1793-1841)
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Green, George (1793-1841)
• 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Green, George (1793-1841)