Person: Jack, William

William Jack became Professor of Mathematics at Glasgow University and held this post for 30 years.

William attended Irvine Academy, and from there he went to the University of Glasgow.
Jack had a surprisingly varied career.
He was proposed for the fellowship by Sir William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), James Thomson Bottomely, Allen Thomson, and Peter Guthrie Tait.
Jack served on the council of the Society from 1888 to 1891.
In the same year that he was elected to a fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Jack was honoured with the award of an LL.D. by the University of Glasgow.
In 1879 Jack was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Glasgow.
George Alexander Gibson, Professor of Mathematics in Glasgow Technical College, was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics in Glasgow University, in succession to Jack in September 1909.
It is worth noting that Gibson had been an assistant of Jack's at the University before he took up the appointment at Glasgow Technical College.
In the year after Jack's retirement, the William Jack Prize was founded in commemoration of his services to Glasgow University.
In commemoration of his fifty years of service as teacher of mathematics, a fund of three hundred pounds has been secured, the income of which will be known as the William Jack prize.
MacRobert, who succeeded Gibson as professor of Mathematics at Glasgow University himself won the William Jack Prize in 1916.
William Jack was elected an honorary member of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society in March 1902.

Born 29 May 1834, Stewarton, Ayrshire, Scotland. Died 23 March 1924, Glasgow, Scotland.

View full biography at MacTutor

Origin Scotland

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

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