Douglas Cameron Heggie (born 7 February 1947) is a Scottish applied mathematician and astronomer, formerly holding the Personal Chair of Mathematical Astronomy at the School of Mathematics at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. His main research interests are in

stellar dynamics Stellar dynamics is the branch of astrophysics which describes in a statistical way the collective motions of stars subject to their mutual gravity. The essential difference from celestial mechanics is that the number of body N \gg 10. Typica ...

Research

Heggie has conducted pioneering theoretical research on the topic of the classical gravitational N-body problem, with a particular focus on the three-body problem, and related applications to the dynamical evolution of

globular star clusters A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars. Globular clusters are bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards their centers. They can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of member ...

and

high-performance computing High-performance computing (HPC) uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Overview HPC integrates systems administration (including network and security knowledge) and parallel programming into a mult ...

. The article in which he presented the theory of binary evolution in stellar dynamics (often referred to as ''Heggie's law'') has found an outstanding spectrum of applications in many astrophysical domains. One of the originators of the current paradigm of the dynamical evolution of collisional stellar systems, he has made seminal contributions also to the quantitative study of prehistoric mathematics and astronomy. On these subjects, he has authored or co-authored of two books: ''The Gravitational Million-Body Problem: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Star Cluster Dynamics'' and ''Megalithic Science: Ancient Mathematics and Astronomy in North-west Europe''.

Education and career

Educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh, Scotland (Captain and Dux 1965), he spent a decade as an undergraduate student ( Wrangler 1968), graduate student (PhD 1973), and research fellow (1972–1976) at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

and Institute of Theoretical Astronomy. Following his appointment to a Lectureship (1975) at the then Department of Mathematics in Edinburgh, his entire professional career has been based there, with prolonged research visits to Princeton, Cambridge, Kyoto, and Warsaw. He was appointed Professor of Mathematical Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh in 1994, has held visiting professorships at Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg and

Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics The is a research institute in the field of theoretical physics, attached to Kyoto University in Japan. It was inaugurated in 1952. While the center is often referred to as "YITP", this can be confusing as YITP also stands for the C. N. Yang Inst ...

, Kyoto, and an honorary professorship at

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

, Edinburgh. Among other indicators of esteem, he has served as the President of Commission 37 of the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

, on the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society of London (Triennium 1982–1985), as an Editor of long standing of its main research journal,

Monthly Notices ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'' (MNRAS) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in astronomy and astrophysics. It has been in continuous existence since 1827 and publishes letters and papers reporting orig ...

, as well as an Advisory Editor of the

Journal for the History of Astronomy ''Journal for the History of Astronomy'' (''JHA'') is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the History of Astronomy from earliest times to the present, and in history in the service of astronomy. The journal's founding editor w ...

Honours

Recipient of the

Tyson Medal The Tyson Medal is a prize awarded for the best performance in subjects relating to astronomy at the University of Cambridge, England. It is awarded annually for achievement in the examinations for Part III of the Mathematical Tripos when there is ...

(1969) and

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 ...

(1971). Elected Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

(1989).

References

External links

Scholarly publications (in Astronomy and Astrophysics) by Douglas C. Heggie from the NASA Astrophysical Data System

"The Million Body Problem"
''Public Lecture, Friends of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, CA, USA'', 2009
"Research in a Nutshell – Applied Mathematics – D.C. Heggie"
''Lay description of research in one minute (Million-body simulation of globular cluster M4), University of Edinburgh'', 2012
"Michel Hénon contributions to collisional stellar systems"
''Lecture in memoriam of Michel Hénon, Gravasco trimester at Institut Henri Poincaré, Paris, FR'', 2013

''Lecture series, Kavli Summer Program in Astrophysics (formerly ISIMA), Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, Toronto, ON, CAN'', 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Heggie, Douglas C. 20th-century Scottish mathematicians Scottish astronomers 1947 births Living people 21st-century Scottish mathematicians Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Edinburgh Writers from Edinburgh Applied mathematicians Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars