Person: Burchnall, Joseph Langley

Joseph Langley Burchnall was an English mathematician who worked in the theory of differential operators.

Joseph was educated at Boston Grammar School, supported by a Holland County Council Scholarship, where he won the Parry Gold Medal in 1908.
It is not entirely clear that an academic career was Burchnall's first choice for, later in life, he told a friend that he would have liked to have joined the Civil Service but thought that with his disability life in London would be too difficult.
He played a large part in the discussions on reconstitution, and although the Durham Council's recommendations were not all implemented, it was due to Burchnall and a small group of others that the Durham Colleges emerged from this chastening period with so much of their character intact.
Almost half of Burchnall's mathematical papers were written with T W Chaundy, with whom he collaborated for 20 years.
This called for wise planning and control and Professor Burchnall was a leading figure at all stages.
Burchnall retired in 1959 and, although he continued his interest in mathematics in his retirement, he wrote no further research papers.

Born 8 December 1892, Whichford, near Chipping Norton, Warwickshire, England. Died 29 April 1975, Southwold, Suffolk, England.

View full biography at MacTutor

Origin England

Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0!

O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive