Henry Jack

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(6 July 1917 – 5 January 1978) was a Scottish mathematician at University College Dundee. The Jack polynomials are named after him. His research dealt with the development of analytic methods to evaluate certain integrals over matrix spaces. His most famous paper relates his integrals to classes of symmetric polynomials important in the theory of the representation of the symmetric group. He discovered a new, natural basis for the symmetric polynomials.

Life

He was born at

Menzieshill Menzieshill is a suburb and community council area in the city of Dundee, Scotland. It is located in the west of the city, and is immediately north west of Blackness and the West End, west of Lochee, east of Gowrie Park and south of Charle ...

near

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

on 6 July 1917, the son of Henry Jack, a farmer. He was christened at

Benvie Liff is a village in Angus, Scotland, situated 4.5 miles west-north-west of Dundee on a south-facing slope two miles north of the River Tay. It had a population of 568 in 2011. Surrounded by farmland, it has been described as 'haunted by wood p ...

church. He was educated at the

High School of Dundee The High School of Dundee is an independent, co-educational, day school in Dundee, Scotland, which provides nursery, primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils. Its foundation has been dated to 1239, and it is the only priv ...

then studied 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 ...

(graduating MA in 1940). During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he served as a

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

with the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

then resumed studies at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, gaining a further BA degree in 1949. In 1950 he was appointed as a lecturer in mathematics at University College Dundee, then a college of the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, but later to be the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee; . Abbreviated as ''Dund.'' for post-nominals. is a public university, public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a University college#United Kingdom, university college in 1881 with a donation ...

. He was appointed senior lecturer in 1964 and promoted to a readership in 1970. In 1970 he was elected a 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 ...

. His proposers were W Norrie Everitt, D S Jones,

John Frank Allen John Frank Allen, FRS FRSE (May 5, 1908 – April 22, 2001) was a Canadian-born physicist. At the same time as Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa in Moscow, Don Misener and Allen independently discovered the superfluid phase of matter in 1937 using ...

Robert Alexander Rankin Robert Alexander Rankin FRSE FRSAMD (27 October 1915 – 27 January 2001) was a Scottish mathematician who worked in analytic number theory. Life Rankin was born in Garlieston in Wigtownshire the son of Rev Oliver Rankin (1885–1954), minister ...

and

Anthony Elliot Ritchie Anthony Elliot Ritchie FRSE FRCPE LLD (30 March 1915–14 September 1997) was a 20th-century Scottish physiologist and educator. Life Ritchie was born at 20 Upper Gray Street, Edinburgh on 30 March 1915, the only son of Jessie Jane Elliot and ...

. He won the Society's Keith Prize for the period 1967/69. He died of liver cancer at home at 77 Blackness Avenue in Dundee on 5 January 1978.

Family

He was married to Jean Mills ("Winkie") in 1956. She was a widow with three sons at the time of their marriage.

References

1917 births 1978 deaths People educated at the High School of Dundee Academics of the University of Dundee 20th-century Scottish mathematicians {{UK-mathematician-stub