John Bryce McLeod, (23 December 1929 – 20 August 2014) was a British mathematician, who worked on linear and nonlinear partial and ordinary differential equations.

Life and education

McLeod was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 23 December 1929. He was educated at

Aberdeen Grammar School Aberdeen Grammar School is a state secondary school in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of thirteen secondary schools run by the Aberdeen City Council educational department. It is the oldest school in the city and one of the oldest grammar school ...

; the

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

, where he took a first in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in 1950; and Christ Church, Oxford, where he took a first in Mathematics in 1952. He was a Harmsworth Senior Scholar at Merton College, Oxford, from 1955 to 1956. He obtained his PhD in 1959 under the supervision of Edward Charles Titchmarsh at the University of Oxford. He was a junior lecturer in Mathematics at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 1956 to 1958, and a lecturer in 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 ...

from 1958 to 1960. He then returned to Oxford to take up a Fellowship in Pure Mathematics at

Wadham College Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

. He remained in Oxford until 1988, becoming a university lecturer in 1970, and a senior research fellow of the

Science and Engineering Research Council The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and its predecessor the Science Research Council (SRC) were the UK agencies in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities, including astronomy, biotechnology and bi ...

from 1986 to 1991. In 1988 McLeod took up a professorship at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

, where he remained until his retirement in 2007. McLeod married Eunice Third in 1956; they had three sons and a daughter. He died in England on 20 August 2014, aged 84.

Awards and honours

In 1965, he was awarded the

Sir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize The ''Sir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize'' is awarded every four years by the Edinburgh Mathematical Society to an outstanding young mathematician having a specified connection with Scotland. It is named after Sir Edmund Whittaker. History Afte ...

. he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1974, and received the Society's

Keith Medal The Keith Medal was a prize awarded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy, for a scientific paper published in the society's scientific journals, preference being given to a paper containing a discovery, either in mathe ...

in 1987. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1992. In 2011 he was awarded the

Naylor Prize and Lectureship The Naylor Prize and lectureship in Applied Mathematics is a prize of the London Mathematical Society awarded every two years in memory of Dr V.D. Naylor. Only those who reside in the United Kingdom are eligible for the prize. The "grounds for aw ...

References

1929 births 2014 deaths British mathematicians Alumni of the University of Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society PDE theorists Sir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize winners Alumni of Merton College, Oxford {{UK-mathematician-stub