Evan Tom Davies (24 September 1904 – 8 October 1973) was a Welsh mathematician. He studied applications of the

Lie derivative In differential geometry, the Lie derivative ( ), named after Sophus Lie by Władysław Ślebodziński, evaluates the change of a tensor field (including scalar functions, vector fields and one-forms), along the flow defined by another vector fi ...

as it relates to

Riemannian geometry Riemannian geometry is the branch of differential geometry that studies Riemannian manifolds, smooth manifolds with a ''Riemannian metric'', i.e. with an inner product on the tangent space at each point that varies smoothly from point to poin ...

as well as

absolute differential calculus In mathematics, Ricci calculus constitutes the rules of index notation and manipulation for tensors and tensor fields on a differentiable manifold, with or without a metric tensor or connection. It is also the modern name for what used to be cal ...

, and published a large number of papers relating to the subjects.

Early life

Davies was born in 1904 in

Pencader, Carmarthenshire Pencader () is a small village in the Wales, Welsh county of Carmarthenshire, and is part of the Community and Parish of Llanfihangel-ar-Arth. It is located around 3 miles (5 km) south-east of Llandysul and 6.5 miles (10 km) south-west o ...

, a small village in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. He was the son of two farmers and attended a local primary school. After finishing primary school, Davies received a full ride scholarship to Llandysul County School in the neighbouring town of

Llandysul Llandysul is a small town and community in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. As a community it consists of the townships of Capel Dewi, Horeb, Pontsian, Pren-gwyn, Tregroes, Rhydowen and the village of Llandysul itself. Llandysul lies in sout ...

. There he became friends with

Evan James Williams Evan James Williams FRS (8 June 1903 – 29 September 1945) was a Welsh experimental physicist who worked in a number of fields with some of the most notable physicists of his day, including Patrick Blackett, Lawrence Bragg, Ernest Rutherford a ...

, a future professor of physics at

Aberystwyth University , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

and member of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. In 1921, he enrolled in Aberystwyth University. He would graduate with a Bachelor of Science with honours in the field 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 mathematical s ...

. After graduation he went to

Swansea University , former_names=University College of Swansea, University of Wales Swansea , motto= cy, Gweddw crefft heb ei dawn , mottoeng="Technical skill is bereft without culture" , established=1920 – University College of Swansea 1996 – University of Wa ...

where he studied

pure mathematics Pure mathematics is the study of mathematical concepts independently of any application outside mathematics. These concepts may originate in real-world concerns, and the results obtained may later turn out to be useful for practical applications, ...

and received his master's degree. Davies would move to Rome in August 1926 to study with the leading expert on absolute differential calculus,

Tullio Levi-Civita Tullio Levi-Civita, (, ; 29 March 1873 – 29 December 1941) was an Italian mathematician, most famous for his work on absolute differential calculus (tensor calculus) and its applications to the theory of relativity, but who also made significa ...

. There he received his doctorate.

Career

In 1930, after a short academic break due to poor health, Davies accepted a position as an assistant lecturer at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. There he was promoted twice, first to Lecturer in 1935, and later to Reader in 1946. Davies was affected by the evacuation of King's College due to the

London Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

and was forced to temporarily relocate to the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

. After the conclusion of the Second World War and his subsequent promotion to Lecturer; Davie would become the chair of mathematics at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

. He stayed at Southampton until his retirement in 1969 at the age of 65. After retirement, he went on to be a professor of mathematics at the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

for a period two years until leaving to be a professor at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

. He died at the age of 69 while employed there.

Publications

*''On the infinitesimal deformations of a space'' (1933) *''On the deformation of a subspace'' (1936) *''On the infinitesimal deformations of tensor submanifolds'' (1937) *''On the second and third fundamental forms of a subspace'' (1937) *''Analogues of the Frenet formulae determined by deformation operators'' (1938) *''Lie derivation in generalized metric spaces'' (1939) *''Subspaces of a Finsler space'' (1945) *''Motions in a metric space based on the notion of area'' (1945) *''The theory of surfaces in a geometry based on the notion of area'' (1947) *''On the invariant theory of contact transformations'' (1953) *''Parallel distributions and contact transformations'' (1966)

Personal life

Davies' first marriage was to Margaret Helen Picton in 1941, but she died a few years later in 1944. In 1955 he remarried, to Hilda Gladys Boyens, and they had one son. He made a hobby of linguistics and was fluent in five languages.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Evan Tom Welsh mathematicians 20th-century British mathematicians 20th-century linguists University of Calgary faculty University of Waterloo faculty Alumni of Swansea University Alumni of Aberystwyth University Academics of the University of Southampton 1904 births 1973 deaths