Mathematician:Osborne Reynolds

Mathematician

Irish mathematician and physicist who was an innovator in the understanding of fluid dynamics.

His studies of heat transfer between solids and fluids brought improvements in boiler and condenser design.

Best known for introducing the Reynolds number for classifying fluid flow.

Nationality

Northern Irish

History

• Born: 23 August 1842 in Belfast, Ireland
• Died: 21 February 1912 in Watchet, Somerset, England

Theorems and Definitions

• Reynolds Number
• Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Equations
• Reynolds Stress

Definitions of concepts named for Osborne Reynolds can be found here.

Publications

• 1883: An experimental investigation of the circumstances which determine whether the motion of water shall be direct or sinuous, and of the law of resistance in parallel channels (Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol. 35, no. 224-226: pp. 84 – 99)
• 1894: On the dynamical theory of incompressible viscous fluids and the determination of the criterion (Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol. 56, no. 336-339: pp. 40 – 45)
• 1903: The Sub-Mechanics of the Universe

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Osborne Reynolds": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive