George Barker Jeffery
FRS (9 May 1891 – 27 April 1957) was a leading
mathematical physicist
Mathematical physics refers to the development of mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the developmen ...
in the early twentieth century. He is probably best known to the scientifically literate public as the translator of papers by
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
,
Hendrik Lorentz
Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (; 18 July 1853 – 4 February 1928) was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect. He also derived the Lorentz t ...
, and other fathers of
relativity theory
The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in ...
.
Career
Jeffery was born in 1891 and educated at
Strand School,
Wilson's School
Wilson's School is a state boys' grammar school with academy status in the London Borough of Sutton, England.
It was founded as Wilson's Grammar School in Camberwell in 1615, making it one of the country's oldest state schools. The school move ...
and at
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King G ...
. In 1909 he qualified as a teacher at the London Day Training College and graduated from
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = � ...
in 1911. From 1912 to 1921 Jeffery served as Assistant Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at University College, London. He was a research student and assistant of
L. N. G. Filon. In 1921 he became University Reader in Mathematics at University College. In 1922 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King G ...
. In 1924 he returned to University College as Astor Professor of Pure Mathematics (upon the retirement of
M. J. M. Hill in 1923).
In 1945 Jeffery was appointed Director of the newly established
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
Institute of Education
IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior to ...
, where he became interested in the problems of West African education. He was also actively involved in the Secondary School Examinations Council, the National Advisory Council on the Training and Supply of Teachers, the National Foundation for Educational Research, the New Education Fellowship, the Advisory Council on Education in the Colonies and the Association of Teachers in Colleges and Departments of Education. He retired from the Institute in 1957 and died the same year.
Contributions
In 1922 Jeffery published a paper describing the motion of ellipsoidal particles in a viscous fluid and setting out what are now known as Jeffery's equations. In 1923, with W. Perrett, he published what has become the definitive English translation of the seminal papers on relativity by
Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
,
Lorenz
Lorenz is an originally German name derived from the Roman surname Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum".
Given name
People with the given name Lorenz include:
* Prince Lorenz of Belgium (born 1955), member of the Belgian royal family by hi ...
,
Weyl and
Minkowski. In connection with this work, he corresponded with Einstein and others. In 1926, together with O. Baldwin, he published a paper presenting the
gravitational plane waves, which are widely regarded as one of the most important of all
exact solutions
In mathematics, integrability is a property of certain dynamical systems. While there are several distinct formal definitions, informally speaking, an integrable system is a dynamical system with sufficiently many conserved quantities, or first i ...
of the
Einstein field equation
In the general theory of relativity, the Einstein field equations (EFE; also known as Einstein's equations) relate the geometry of spacetime to the distribution of matter within it.
The equations were published by Einstein in 1915 in the form ...
in
general relativity
General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics. G ...
.
Jeffery was elected as a Fellow 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 1926 and served as Vice-President from 1938 to 1940. He was invited in October 1949 by the British Secretary of State for the Colonies to visit West Africa to study and advise on a "proposal that there should be instituted a West African School Examinations Council". He visited
the Gambia
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
,
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
,
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...
(then called The Gold Coast) and
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...
from December 1949 to March 1950. His report (since known as the Jeffery Report), published in March 1950,
[.] strongly supported the proposal for a West African Examinations Council and made detailed recommendations on the composition and duties of the Council. The recommendations were adopted in full.
Personal life
He was born on 9 May 1891.
In 1916 he married Elizabeth Schofield.
Jeffery was a
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
, and in 1916 in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighti ...
spent a short time in prison as a
conscientious objector
A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...
, and further time at the Home Office Work Centre in Wakefield. In 1934 he gave the
Swarthmore Lecture
Swarthmore Lecture is one of a series of lectures, started in 1908, addressed to Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
The preface to the very first lecture explains the purpose of the series.
“This book is t ...
to the Yearly Meeting of Quakers, under the title ''Christ, Yesterday And Today''. He died on 27 April 1957.
See also
*
Reissner–Nordström metric
In physics and astronomy, the Reissner–Nordström metric is a static solution to the Einstein–Maxwell field equations, which corresponds to the gravitational field of a charged, non-rotating, spherically symmetric body of mass ''M''. T ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffery, George Barker
1891 births
1957 deaths
Academics of King's College London
Academics of University College London
Alumni of University College London
Alumni of King's College London
British conscientious objectors
English Quakers
Fluid dynamicists
English mathematicians
People educated at the Strand School
English Christian pacifists
People educated at Wilson's School, Wallington
Fellows of the Royal Society
Academics of the UCL Institute of Education