The Beyer Chair of

Applied Mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathemati ...

is an endowed professorial position in the

Department of Mathematics, University of Manchester The Department of Mathematics at the University of Manchester is one of the largest unified mathematics departments in the United Kingdom, with over 90 academic staff and an undergraduate intake of roughly 400 students per year (including students ...

, England. The endowment came from the will of the celebrated locomotive designer and founder of locomotive builder

Beyer, Peacock & Company Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. The company exported locomotives, ...

, Charles Frederick Beyer. He was the university's largest single donor. The first appointment in 1881 was of Arthur Schuster who held the position until 1888. After Schuster’s departure, the chair of Mathematics to which Horace Lamb had been appointed in 1885 became the Beyer Professorship of Mathematics and remained so until Lamb’s retirement in 1920. At this point an existing chair, of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy to which Sydney Chapman had been appointed in 1919, was renamed the Beyer Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. After Chapman’s resignation, the Beyer title was applied to the chair of Applied Mathematics. There was no incumbent between 1937-1945. Most of the holders of the post were elected as

Fellows of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...

, an honour bestowed on a small minority of UK mathematics professors. Lamb, Champman, Milne and Goldstein all received the

Smith's Prize The Smith's Prize was the name of each of two prizes awarded annually to two research students in mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1769. Following the reorganization in 1998, they are now awarded under the n ...

and indication of early career promise. The other endowed chairs in mathematics at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

are the

Richardson Chair of Applied Mathematics The Richardson Chair of Applied Mathematics is an endowed professorial position in the School of Mathematics, University of Manchester, England. The chair was founded by an endowment of £3,600 from one John Richardson, in 1890. The endowment was ...

, and the

Fielden Chair of Pure Mathematics The Fielden Chair of Pure Mathematics is an endowed professorial position in the School of Mathematics, University of Manchester, England. History In 1870 Samuel Fielden, a wealthy mill owner from Todmorden, donated £150 to Owens College (as th ...

as well as the named Sir Horace Lamb Chair.

Beyer Professors

* 1881–1888

Arthur Schuster Sir Franz Arthur Friedrich Schuster (12 September 1851 – 14 October 1934) was a German-born British physicist known for his work in spectroscopy, electrochemistry, optics, X-radiography and the application of harmonic analysis to physics. ...

* 1888–1920

Horace Lamb Sir Horace Lamb (27 November 1849 – 4 December 1934)R. B. Potts,, ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 5, MUP, 1974, pp 54–55. Retrieved 5 Sep 2009 was a British applied mathematician and author of several influential texts on ...

* 1920–1924 Sydney Chapman, Beyer Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy * 1924–1928

Edward Arthur Milne Edward Arthur Milne FRS (; 14 February 1896 – 21 September 1950) was a British astrophysicist and mathematician. Biography Milne was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England. He attended Hymers College and from there he won an open scholarship ...

* 1929–1937

Douglas Hartree Douglas Rayner Hartree (27 March 1897 – 12 February 1958) was an English mathematician and physicist most famous for the development of numerical analysis and its application to the Hartree–Fock equations of atomic physics and the c ...

* 1945–1950

Sydney Goldstein Sydney Goldstein FRS (3 December 1903, Kingston upon Hull – 22 January 1989, Cambridge, MA) was a British mathematician noted for his contribution to fluid dynamics. He is described as: "... one of those who most influenced progress in fluid d ...

* 1950–1959 James Lighthill''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

'', Contributors,Vol 4, December 1958, p 1454 * 1961–1990

Fritz Ursell Fritz Joseph Ursell FRS (28 April 1923 – 11 May 2012) was a British mathematician noted for his contributions to fluid mechanics, especially in the area of wave-structure interactions. He held the Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics at the Univ ...

* 1991–1996 Philip Hall * 1996–2017 David Abrahams * 2017– Pending appointment

References

{{Reflist Professorships in mathematics Professorships at the University of Manchester Mathematics education in the United Kingdom 1881 establishments in England