George Green

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The title page to George Green's original essay on what is now known as Green's theorem. It was published privately at the authors expense, because he thought it would be presumptuous for a person like himself, with no formal education in mathematics, to submit the paper to an established journal.

George Green (14 July 1793–31 May, 1841) was a baker who, with no formal education, authored an important treatise on mathematical physics. He developed the idea of potential, and used a new mathematical approach to solve problems in electricity and magnetism.

Biography

Green's life story is remarkable in that he was almost entirely self-taught. He was the son of a baker, George Green, and his wife, Sarah Butler. Helived for most of his life in the English town of Sneinton, Nottinghamshire, nowadays part of the city of Nottingham. His father (also named George) was a baker who had built and owned a brick windmill used to grind grain. At age 8, Green was sent to the school of Robert Goodacre, but stayed there for only four terms. This short stint constitutes Green's only formal education in his early years. Green began his apprentiship at his father's bakery when he was 14. After his apprentiship, Green continued to work at his father's bakery and mill.

Preparation and work

In 1823, Green enrolled in the Nottingham Subscription Library. There he found the works he needed to further his education in mathematics. He could also interact with a class of people that were educated and well-to-do. Around this time Green met Jane Smith, and the couple had seven children, although they were never formally married. Their first child was born in 1824.

It is unclear to historians exactly where Green obtained information on current developments in mathematics. Only one person educated in mathematics, John Toplis, is known to have lived in Nottingham at the time. Green himself sheds a little light on this matter in a general way when he says in the introduction to his first treatise that it was written "by a young man, who has been oblidged to obtain the little knowledge he possesses, at such intervals and by such means, as other indispensable avocations which offer but few opportunities for mental improvement, afforded." <<<p8 green's papers>>> He was certainly familiar with the works of Laplace, Fourier and Poisson, as well as with the experimental properties of static electricity. When Green published his Essay in 1828, it was sold on a subscription basis to 51 people, most of whom were friends and probably could not understand it.

Green's mathematical accomplishments

Green attempted to improve on the work of his predecessors on the same subject. Through his advanced mathematical analysis, including the formulation of what today are called Green's function and Green's theorem, he was able to show the manner in which electricity distributes itself on the surface of conductors of various sizes and shapes, either standing alone or connected to one another by wires.

Further researches

Green continued to work in his father's mill, taking ownership upon his father's death in 1829. In April of 1828, the wealthy landowner, mathematician and Cambridge graduate Sir Edward Bromhead bought a copy of Green's treatise and wrote Green, encouraging him to do further work in mathematics. Green wrote an apologetic note back a year and a half later, claiming that someone had discouraged him from making an earlier response. It was about two years after Green's response, in 1832, that Green submitted to Bromhead for publication his first paper on the equilibrium of fluids. It took another 10 months before the paper appeared in print. Bromhead facilitated the presentation of three of Green's papers to the Cambridge Philosophical Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Late undergraduate education

In 1833, Bromhead enabled Green to enter Cambridge University when Green was already 40. Green His academic career was somewhat strained due to his age, but after his graduation as fourth wrangler (he placed fourth in an important mathematical examination) in 1837, he stayed on the faculty at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He wrote on optics, acoustics, and hydrodynamics, and while his later works have not had the same impact as his Essay, they contain some substantial results. Green's work on the motion of waves in a canal anticipates some mathematical formulations of quantum mechanics, while his research on light waves and the properties of the ether produced what is now known as the Cauchy-Green tensor.

In 1839, Green was elected a Fellow of the college; however, he only remained there for two terms: In 1840 he returned to Nottingham. where he died the next year, in the home of the mother of his children, on May 31, 1841. The cause of his death was influenza, although it is believed that a life working in a grist mill may have irritated his respiratory tract and given rise to the condition that forced his departure from Cambdrige a year earlier.

Legacy

Green's work was not well-known in the mathematical community during his lifetime. In 1846, Green's work was rediscovered by the young William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin), who popularised it for future mathematicians.

The George Green Library at the University of Nottingham is named after him, and houses the majority of the University's Science and Engineering Collection. In 1986, Green's mill was restored to working order. It now serves both as a working example of a 19th century mill and as a museum and science centre dedicated to George Green.

On a visit to Nottingham in 1930, Albert Einstein commented that Green had been twenty years ahead of his time. The theoretical physicist, Julian Schwinger, who used Green's functions in his groundbreaking works, published a tribute titled "The Greening of Quantum Field Theory: George and I."

See also

• Green's identities
• Green's function
• Green's theorem
• Cauchy-Green tensor

References

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<<The references in this section need to be formatted according to our guidelines. For this, you will need to extract the info in the "cite web" and "cite journal" templates below, then put that info in our format.>>

• George Green. Biography of George Green from St Andrews University

• George Green. - An excellent on-line source of George Green information

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson. George Green at the MacTutor archive

• Green, George (1828). An Essay on the Application of Mathematical Analysis to the Theories of Electricity and Magnetism. Archived 2004-07-24, archive link not functioning as of 2006-09-12.

• Cannel, D. M. and Lord, N. J. (March 1993). George Green, mathematician and physicist 1793-1841. The Mathematical Gazette 77: 26-51.
• Challis, L. and Sheard, F. (December 2003). The Green of Green Functions. Physics Today 56 (12): 41-46.
• Green's Mill and Science Centre (Web page). Retrieved November 22, 2005.

• The Greening of quantum Field Theory: George and I (Web page).

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