250px, William Peddie (ca 1910) William Peddie

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 ...

LLD (31 May 1861 – 2 June 1946) was a Scottish physicist and applied mathematician, known for his research on colour vision and molecular magnetism.

Life

He was born in

Papa Westray Papa Westray () ( sco, Papa Westree), also known as Papay, is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, United Kingdom. The fertile soilKeay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland''. London. HarperCollins. has long been a draw ...

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

on 31 May 1861 the son of Rev John Peddie and his wife, Marion Beashe. He was educated at

Kirkwall Grammar School Kirkwall Grammar School is a secondary school in Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland. It was established in . The current school building was opened in 2014. History Kirkwall Grammar School was established in 1200 when Bishop Bjarni established a cathed ...

. He studied Mathematics and Physics 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 BSc in 2022 and gaining a doctorate (DSc) in 1888. He had been assisting in lectures in Natural Philosophy (Physics) since 1883 and became a formal lecturer in 1892. In 1907 he received a professorship at

University College, Dundee A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. He wrote numerous scientific papers and several books. He annotated the 5th edition of Tait's ''Properties of Matter''. In 1887 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

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 ...

, Sir Thomas Muir,

George Chrystal George Chrystal FRSE FRS (8 March 1851 – 3 November 1911) was a Scottish mathematician. He is primarily know for his books on algebra and his studies of seiches (wave patterns in large inland bodies of water) which earned him a Gold Meda ...

, and

Alexander Crum Brown Alexander Crum Brown FRSE FRS (26 March 1838 – 28 October 1922) was a Scottish organic chemist. Alexander Crum Brown Road in Edinburgh's King's Buildings complex is named after him. Early life and education Crum Brown was born at 4 Bellev ...

. He was awarded the Society's

Makdougall-Brisbane Prize 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 ...

for 1896–1898, and served as the Society's Vice President from 1919 to 1922. He was President of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society 1896/97. He was an Invited Speaker of the ICM in 1912 at Cambridge, UK. He retired in 1942 and died at

Ninewells Ninewells ( sco, Ninewells) is an area of Dundee, Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the sout ...

Hospital on 2 June 1946. His position was filled by Prof

George Dawson Preston George Dawson Preston FRSE (1896–1972) was a 20th century British physicist specialising in crystallography and the structure of alloys. He was one of the first to use x-rays and electron diffraction to study the crystal structure of metals ...

Family

In 1891 he married Jessie Isabella Dott (d.1927).

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peddie, William 1861 births 1946 deaths People from Orkney Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Dundee Scottish physicists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish non-fiction writers