Irish-born mathematician and physicist who held the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics at Cambridge, once held by Isaac Newton, from 1849 until his death in 1903. In 1845 he formulated the equations of motion for viscous fluids, the Stokes half of the Navier-Stokes equations, and in 1851 derived Stokes' law for the drag on a small sphere moving through a viscous fluid. He also explained fluorescence, studied the aberration of light and diffraction, and served as Secretary and later President of the Royal Society.
Facts
BirthplaceSkreen, County Sligo, Ireland 2 Nationality / CultureIrish, worked in England 2 Defining ContributionFormulated the equations of motion for viscous fluids (1845), the Stokes half of the Navier-Stokes equations, and derived Stokes' law (1851) for a sphere's drag through a viscous fluid. 2 Notable WorkOn the theories of the internal friction of fluids in motion (1845) 2 AwardPresident of the Royal Society (1885 to 1890) 2 Connections
Associated With
The Navier-Stokes equations are named jointly for them; Navier derived the equations for viscous fluid flow in the 1820s and Stokes gave them their modern rigorous form in the 1840s.
Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
Proofs Credited
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Ireland, nationality there.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: George Gabriel Stokes
WikipediaLead section, gender referenceQuote, Lead section, gender reference
Stokes spent his entire career at the University of Cambridge, where he served as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics for 54 years-from 1849 until his death in 1903-the longest tenure held by any Lucasian Professor.
2. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and Statisticshttps://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Stokes/
George Stokes established the science of hydrodynamics with his law of viscosity describing the velocity of a small sphere through a viscous fluid.
Associated With: Navier-Stokes Existence and Smoothness, Biography section, paragraph after the 1842-1843 publications
Stokes then continued his investigations, looking at the situation where he took into account internal friction in fluids in motion.
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