George Darwin

For the English professional footballer, see George Darwin (footballer).

Sir George Howard Darwin
Sir George Howard Darwin
Born	George Howard Darwin (1845-07-09)9 July 1845 Down House, Downe, Kent, England
Died	Cambridge, England
Nationality	British
Fields	Astronomy and mathematics
Alma mater	Cambridge
Academic advisors	Edward John Routh
Notable students	Ernest William Brown E. T. Whittaker
Notable awards	Smith's Prize (1868) Royal Medal (1884) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1892) Copley Medal (1911)
Signature

Sir George Howard Darwin KCB FRS (9 July 1845 – 7 December 1912) was an English astronomer and mathematician.

Biography

Sir George Howard Darwin, oil on canvas, Mark Gertler, 1912.

Lady George Darwin, pastel, Cecilia Beaux, 1889

George Darwin was born at Down House, Kent, the second son and fifth child of Charles and Emma Darwin. From the age of 11 he studied under Charles Pritchard at Clapham Grammar School, and entered St John's College, Cambridge, in 1863, though he soon moved to Trinity College, where his tutor was Edward John Routh. He graduated as second wrangler in 1868, when he was also placed second for the Smith's Prize and was appointed to a college fellowship. He was admitted to the bar in 1872, but returned to science. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1879 and won their Royal Medal in 1884 and their Copley Medal in 1911. He delivered their Bakerian Lecture in 1891 on the subject of "tidal prediction".

In 1883 Darwin became Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. He studied tidal forces involving the Sun, Moon, and Earth, and formulated the fission theory of Moon formation.

Darwin won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1892, and also later (1899–1901) served as president of that organisation.

He was an invited speaker in the International Congress of Mathematicians 1908, Rome on the topic of "Mechanics, Physical Mathematics, Astronomy."

Darwin married Martha (Maud) du Puy, the daughter of Charles du Puy of Philadelphia, in 1884; his wife was a member of the Ladies Dining Society in Cambridge, with 11 other members.

She died on 6 February 1947. They had three sons and two daughters:

• Gwen Raverat (1885–1957), artist.
• Charles Galton Darwin (1887–1962), physicist and applied mathematics.
• Margaret Elizabeth Darwin (1890–1974), married Sir Geoffrey Keynes.
• William Robert Darwin (1894–1970)
• Leonard Darwin (1899–1899)

He is buried in Trumpington Extension Cemetery in Cambridge with his son Leonard and his daughter Gwen (Raverat), his wife Lady Maud Darwin was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium; his brothers Sir Francis Darwin and Sir Horace Darwin and their respective wives are interred in the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground.

Ancestry

Family of George Darwin

16. Robert Darwin               8. Erasmus Darwin                       17. Elizabeth Hill               4. Robert Darwin                             18. Charles Howard               9. Mary Howard                       19. Penelope Foley               2. Charles Darwin                                   20. Thomas Wedgwood III (=24)               10. Josiah Wedgwood (=12)                       21. Mary Stringer (=25)               5. Susannah Wedgwood                             22. Richard Wedgwood (=26)               11. Sarah Wedgwood (=13)                       23. Susannah Irlam (=27)               1. George Darwin                                         24. Thomas Wedgwood III (=20)               12. Josiah Wedgwood (=10)                       25. Mary Stringer (=21)               6. Josiah Wedgwood II                             26. Richard Wedgwood (=22)               13. Sarah Wedgwood (=11)                       27. Susannah Irlam (=23)               3. Emma Wedgwood                                   28. John Allen               14. John Bartlett Allen                       29. Joan Bartlett               7. Elizabeth Allen                             30. John Hensleigh               15. Elizabeth Hensleigh                       31. Catherine Philipps

Works by G. H. Darwin

• "Tides" (Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, 1875–89)
• The tides and kindred phenomena in the solar system (Boston, Houghton, 1899)
• Problems connected with the tides of a viscous spheroid (London, Harrison and Sons, 1879–1882)
• Scientific papers (Volume 1): Oceanic tides and lunar disturbances of gravity (Cambridge : University Press, 1907)
• Scientific papers (Volume 2): Tidal friction and cosmogony. (Cambridge : University Press, 1908)
• Scientific papers (Volume 3): Figures of equilibrium of rotating liquid and geophysical investigations. (Cambridge : University Press, 1908)
• Scientific papers (Volume 4): Periodic orbits and miscellaneous papers. (Cambridge : University Press, 1911)
• Scientific papers (Volume 5) Supplementary volume, containing biographical memoirs by Sir Francis Darwin and Professor E. W. Brown, lectures on Hill's lunar theory, etc... (Cambridge : University Press, 1916)
• The Scientific Papers of Sir George Darwin. 1907. Cambridge University Press (rep. by Cambridge University Press, 2009; ISBN 978-1-108-00449-7)

Articles

• "On Beneficial Restrictions to Liberty of Marriage," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXII, June/November 1873.
• "Commodities Versus Labour," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXII, June/November 1873.
• "The Birth of a Satellite" Harper's Monthly Magazine, December 1903, pages 124 to 130.

External links

• Works by George Darwin at Project Gutenberg
• .
• George Howard Darwin at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
• "The Genesis of Double Stars" – by George Darwin, from A.C. Seward's Darwin and Modern Science (1909).
• Archival material relating to George Darwin listed at the UK National Archives
• details of correspondence
• Trinity College Chapel memorial
• George Darwin at Find a Grave