Sydney Goldstein FRS (3 December 1903,

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

– 22 January 1989,

Cambridge, MA Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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 ...

noted for his contribution to

fluid dynamics In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids— liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) an ...

. He is described as: "... one of those who most influenced progress in fluid dynamics during the 20th century." He was especially known for his work on steady-flow laminar boundary-layer equations and on the turbulent resistance to rotation of a disk in a fluid. Goldstein was extremely knowledgeable on

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

and his work had a significant impact in that area.

Early life

Goldstein was born into the Jewish community of Hull, where his family ran a furniture store. After his mother died he moved to live with an aunt and attended Bede Collegiate School in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

.SYDNEY GOLDSTEIN, Who was Who, A&C Black At the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

in 1921 he studied mathematics, but was to move to St John's College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, graduating from the

Mathematical Tripos The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. It is the oldest Tripos examined at the University. Origin In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was a ...

in 1925 and gaining the

Smith's Prize The Smith's Prize was the name of each of two prizes awarded annually to two research students in mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1769. Following the reorganization in 1998, they are now awarded under the n ...

in 1927. He was awarded an Isaac Newton Studentship to continue research in applied mathematics under

Harold Jeffreys Sir Harold Jeffreys, FRS (22 April 1891 – 18 March 1989) was a British mathematician, statistician, geophysicist, and astronomer. His book, ''Theory of Probability'', which was first published in 1939, played an important role in the revival ...

. His 1928 PhD thesis was entitled ''The Theory And Application Of

Mathieu Functions In mathematics, Mathieu functions, sometimes called angular Mathieu functions, are solutions of Mathieu's differential equation : \frac + (a - 2q\cos(2x))y = 0, where a and q are parameters. They were first introduced by Émile Léonard Mathieu, ...

''.

Career

He was appointed Rockefeller Research Fellow and spent a year working in

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

. In 1929 he became a fellow of St John's College but later the same year was appointed to a lectureship in Mathematics at 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 ...

. At Manchester the influence of

Osborne Reynolds Osborne Reynolds (23 August 1842 – 21 February 1912) was an Irish-born innovator in the understanding of fluid dynamics. Separately, his studies of heat transfer between solids and fluids brought improvements in boiler and condenser design. ...

and

Horace Lamb Sir Horace Lamb (27 November 1849 – 4 December 1934)R. B. Potts,, ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 5, MUP, 1974, pp 54–55. Retrieved 5 Sep 2009 was a British applied mathematician and author of several influential texts on ...

in fluid dynamics was still felt there and had a strong effect on Goldstein. Moving to Cambridge in 1931 he took over the editorship of ''Modern Developments in Fluid Dynamics'' on Lamb's death. During

World War II 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 ...

Goldstein worked on boundary layer theory at the National Physical Laboratory and at the end of the war he was appointed to the

Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics The Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics is an endowed professorial position in the Department of Mathematics, University of Manchester, England. The endowment came from the will of the celebrated locomotive designer and founder of locomotive builder ...

in Manchester. Goldstein strongly supported the

State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and in 1950 he accepted the chairmanship of the department of mathematics at

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology ( he, הטכניון – מכון טכנולוגי לישראל) is a public research university located in Haifa, Israel. Established in 1912 under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire, the Technion ...

. having made a major contribution to the establishment of the Technion he found the administrative load too heavy and moved again, accepting the chair of Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Mathematics at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1954. He retired in 1968 but continued as an emeritus professor at Harvard.

Honours

Mayhew Prize The Mayhew Prize is a prize awarded annually by the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge to the student showing the greatest distinction in applied mathematics, primarily for courses offered by DAMTP, but also for some courses offered b ...

, 1925 *

, 1927 *

Adams Prize The Adams Prize is one of the most prestigious prizes awarded by the University of Cambridge. It is awarded each year by the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge and St John's College to a UK-based mathematician for distinguis ...

, 1935 *

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

, 1937 *Worked at the Aerodynamics Division, National Physical Laboratory, 1939–45 *Chairman, Aeronautical Research Council, 1946–49 *Foreign Member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and Letters (Section for Sciences), 1950 *Plenary Speaker,

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the Nevanlinna Prize (to be rename ...

, 1954 *

Timoshenko Medal The Timoshenko Medal is an award given annually by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to an individual "in recognition of distinguished contributions to the field of applied mechanics." The Timoshenko Medal, widely regarded as th ...

, 1965 *Foreign Member, Finnish Scientific Society (Section for maths and physics), 1975

Selected publications

* ''Modern Developments in Fluid Dynamics'', 1938. (Editor) * ''Lectures on Fluid Mechanics'', 1960.

External links

References