GLAISHER J W L

UNITED KINGDOM (see also List of Individuals)

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5.11.1848 Lewisham/UK - 7.12.1928 Cambridge/UK

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James Whitbread Lee Glaisher was the elder son of James Glaisher (1809-1903). The son went in 1867 to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1871 second wrangler. He there was appointed Lecturer and remained in Cambridge for the rest of his life. Glaisher's lectureship continued for thirty years until 1901; he was the tutor of the college from 1883 to 1893 and proceeded to the newly established ScD in 1887. He was elected to the Royal Society at the age of only 27 in 1875 and was awarded its Sylvester Medal in 1913. Very tall and spare in frame, Glaisher was fond in walking and cycling. Even in his early seventies he maintained the vitality and the geniality of youth, and it was only in the last years of his life that his health gave way. He died in his college rooms; Glaisher was never married.

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Glaisher was much involved in the scientific organization of his time. He served on the Council of the Royal Society for three periods between 1883 and 1919. Glaisher joined the London Mathematical Society in 1872, was a Member of its Council continuously until retirement in 1906, served as its president in 1884-86 and was awarded the De Morgan Medal in 1908. He joined the Royal Astronomical Society in 1871, was on its Council from 1874 to 1928, served twice as its president and from thirtythree years presided over the Royal Astronomical Society club. Glaisher as his father was active in the British Association for the Advancement of Science, as secretary for section A, and as president of the section at the Leeds meeting of 1890. The main part of Glaisher's papers includes problems in mathematics and in astronomy. He was also much involved in researches in the history of sciences and presented an outstanding paper on the plus and minus sign in mathematics.

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_{Forsyth, A.R. (1929). J.W.L. Glaisher. Proc. Royal Society A 126: i-xi. P}

_{Forsyth, A.R. (2004). J.W.L. Glaisher. Oxford dictionary of National biography 22: 412-413. Glaisher, J.W.L. (1881). Mathematical papers of J.W.L. Glaisher. Cambridge.}

_{Jones, P.S. (1972). Glaisher, James Whitbread Lee. Dictionary scientific biography 5: 413-414. Poggendorff, J.C. (1898). James Whitbread Glaisher. Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörter- buch 3: 524-525; 4: 502; 5: 427-428; 6: 900. Barth: Leipzig, with bibliography.}

_{Turner, H.H. (1929). James Whitbread Lee Glaisher. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 89: 300-308. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/%7Ehistory/Mathematicians/Glaisher.html http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/GLAISHER J W Lhistory/Mathematicians/Glaisher.html P}