John Edensor Littlewood

John Edensor Littlewood (1885 to 1977) was a British mathematician whose work centred on mathematical analysis, analytic number theory and differential equations. Born in Rochester, Kent, he spent part of his childhood in South Africa, returned to Britain in 1900 to attend St Paul's School in London, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1903, emerging as Senior Wrangler in 1905. He began research under Ernest Barnes, who suggested he attempt the Riemann hypothesis; Littlewood showed that if it is true then the prime number theorem follows, with an error term, and in 1914 he proved that the difference between the prime-counting function and the logarithmic integral changes sign infinitely often. He collaborated for many years with G. H. Hardy, with whom he supported Srinivasa Ramanujan, and later with Mary Cartwright on differential equations that foreshadowed the modern theory of dynamical systems. He served in the Royal Garrison Artillery in the First World War, held the Rouse Ball chair at Cambridge from 1928 to 1950, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and received its Copley Medal in 1958. He is also remembered for his book of reminiscences, A Mathematician's Miscellany.