William 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 ...

(29 May 1834 – 20 March 1924) was a Scottish mathematician and journalist. He was Editor of the

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

newspaper from 1870 to 1876, and Professor of Mathematics at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

from 1879 until 1909.

Life

He was born on 29 May 1834 in

Stewarton Stewarton ( sco, Stewartoun,
gd, Baile nan Stiùbhar ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

the son of Robert Jack of Irvine. He was educated at Irvine Academy, going on to study mathematics at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, graduating with an MA in 1853. He then continued his studies at the

University of Cambridge , 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 ...

, graduating with a second MA in 1859. From 1860 to 1866 he was HM Inspector of Schools for Scotland. In 1866 he accepted the post of Professor of Natural Philosophy (Physics) at

Owens College Owens may refer to: Places in the United States *Owens Station, Delaware *Owens Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota *Owens, Missouri *Owens, Ohio *Owens, Virginia People * Owens (surname), including a list of people with the name * Owens Bro ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and held this position until 1870 when he moved to Glasgow as Editor of the

newspaper. He left in 1876 to run

Macmillan & Co Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

, a London publisher, and in 1879 joined the staff of Glasgow University as Professor of Mathematics. In 1875, 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,

William Thomson, Lord Kelvin William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, (26 June 182417 December 1907) was a British mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer born in Belfast. Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years, he did important ...

, James Thomson Bottomley,

Allen Thomson Allen Thomson Royal Society of London, FRS FRSE FRCSE (2 April 1809 – 21 March 1884) was a Scottish physician, known as an anatomist and embryologist. Life The only son of John Thomson (physician), Dr John Thomson by his second wife, Marg ...

and

Peter Guthrie Tait Peter Guthrie Tait FRSE (28 April 1831 – 4 July 1901) was a Scottish mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics. He is best known for the mathematical physics textbook '' Treatise on Natural Philosophy'', which he co-wrote wi ...

. In 1875 the University of Glasgow awarded him an honorary LLD and in 1902 the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

awarded him an honorary doctorate (DSc). In his final working years he lived on the campus of the University of Glasgow, at 10 The College. He died on 20 March 1924.

Family

He was married to Agnes Jane Nichol (1837–1901), daughter of

John Pringle Nichol John Pringle Nichol FRSE FRAS (13 January 1804 – 19 September 1859) was a Scottish educator, phrenologist, astronomer and economist who did much to popularise astronomy in a manner that appealed to nineteenth century tastes. Early life Born ...

and sister of Professor John Nichol. Their children included sons William Tullis Jack (b.1862), William Robert Jack (b.1866), Adolphus Alfred Jack (b.1868), and a daughter Agnes Elizabeth Jack (b.1871).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jack, William 1834 births 1924 deaths Scottish mathematicians Scottish journalists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Glasgow People from East Ayrshire Scottish newspaper editors People educated at Irvine Royal Academy Alumni of the University of Cambridge Scottish civil servants Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester Scottish publishers (people) The Herald (Glasgow) editors