Mathematician:Lewis Fry Richardson

Mathematician

English mathematician, physicist, meteorologist, psychologist, and pacifist who pioneered modern mathematical techniques of weather forecasting.

Also used the application of similar techniques to studying the causes of wars and how to prevent them.

Noted for his pioneering work concerning fractals and a method for solving a system of linear equations known as modified Richardson iteration.

Nationality

English

History

• Born: 11 October 1881 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England
• Died: 30 September 1953 in Kilmun, Argyll and Bute, Scotland

Theorems and Definitions

• Richardson Effect
• Richardson Extrapolation

• Richardson Number

• Modified Richardson Iteration

Definitions of concepts named for Lewis Fry Richardson can be found here.

Publications

• 1922: Weather Prediction by Numerical Process
• 1939: Generalized Foreign Politics
• 1949: Arms and Insecurity
• 1960: Statistics of Deadly Quarrels

Notable Quotes

Big whirls have little whirls that feed on their velocity,

and little whirls have lesser whirls and so on to viscosity.

Weather Prediction by Numerical Process, 1922

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Lewis Fry Richardson": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Richardson extrapolation (deferred correction)