Person: Brodetsky, Selig
Selig Brodetsky was educated at Cambridge and Leipzig. He became a lecturer at Bristol and later lecturer and professor at Leeds. He worked on fluid flow with particular emphasis on aerodynamics. He was President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for a short time.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- In 1894, when Selig was old enough to begin school, he attended the Jew's Free School in Whitechapel, London.
- Brodetsky achieved a very fine record at Cambridge.
- In 1910 Brodetsky was awarded the Isaac Newton Scholarship which enabled him to study at Leipzig for his doctorate.
- The University of Leipzig awarded Brodetsky a doctorate in 1913 for a thesis on gravitation and he returned to England in 1914 where he accepted a lectureship in Applied Mathematics at the University of Bristol.
- In 1919 Brodetsky accepted a position as a lecturer at the University of Leeds and he was made a Reader in 1920.
- Brodetsky's work was mainly on aerodynamics and fluid mechanics.
- The 5th International Congress for Applied Mechanics was held at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1938 and Brodetsky delivered a paper on the equations of motion of an airplane.
- We list the chapter and section headings of this paper to give an indication of the approach Brodetsky took.
- Lecturing seems to have been one of Brodetsky's real strengths.
- However, it is not only for his contributions to mathematics that Brodetsky is well known.
- W P Milne was Head of Mathematics at Leeds until he retired in 1946 when Brodetsky took on the role.
- This, however, proved much more difficult than Brodetsky expected.
- Brodetsky was effective in reforming the Hebrew University but at considerable cost in terms of arguments and disputes.
Born 10 February 1888, Olviopol (near Odessa), Ukraine. Died 18 May 1954, London, England.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Applied Maths, Origin Ukraine
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References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
