Professor Joseph Langley Burchnall (8 December 1892 – 29 April 1975) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

who introduced the Burchnall–Chaundy theory.

Life

Burchnall was born in

Whichford Whichford is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, about southeast of Shipston-on-Stour. The parish adjoins the county boundary with Oxfordshire and the village is about north of the Oxfordshire town of Chipping Norton. The p ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, the son of Walter Henry Burchnall, a schoolmaster, and Ann Newport. He was the eldest of six children. Around 1900 the family moved to Butterwick, and thereafter Joseph was educated at

Boston Grammar School The Boston Grammar School is a Grammar school, selective grammar school and sixth form college for boys aged 11 to 18 and girls attending the sixth form aged 16–18 located in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. A recent 2021 Ofsted report assesse ...

, then progressed to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

graduating BA in 1914 and MA (in absentia) in 1915. He had a distinguished military history during 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 fightin ...

winning the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

in 1918 whilst serving in the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

. He was wounded three times and lost a leg in March 1918. After the war he joined

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

as a Reader in Mathematics then progressed to be a Lecturer. He became a professor in 1939 and continued this until retirement in 1959. He wrote many mathematical papers in conjunction with

Theodore William Chaundy Theodore William Chaundy (19 January 1889 – 14 April 1966) was an English people, English mathematician who introduced Burchnall–Chaundy theory. Chaundy was born to widowed businessman John Chaundy and his second wife Sarah Pates in their ...

. 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 ...

in 1953. He was appointed an OBE in 1956 for services to education and the community. He was President of the Old Bostonian Association (his old school alumni) from 1967 to 1969. He died on 29 April 1975 in

Southwold, Suffolk Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the English North Sea coast in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is ...

. He is buried in St Edmunds Church Cemetery in Southwold.

Family

He married Gertrude Frances Rollinson in 1917. They had two sons and one daughter.

References

* 20th-century English mathematicians People educated at Boston Grammar School 1892 births 1975 deaths English amputees Academics of Durham University Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People from Warwickshire People from the Borough of Boston Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford People from Southwold British scientists with disabilities {{UK-mathematician-stub