Person: Levy, Hyman
Hyman Levy was a Scottish mathematician whose main work was in the numerical solution of differential equations.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Hyman had two older siblings: Joseph (born about 1885), Fanny (born about 1887), and several younger siblings: Sophia (born about 1892), Millie (born about 1894), Morris (born about 1895), and David (born about 1897).
- The actual date of his birth seems a little hard to determine, given as 7 March in Who's Who and one has to assume that Levy himself supplied this information.
- Levy attended George Heriot's School in Edinburgh, then entered the University of Edinburgh to study mathematics and physics.
- In 1916 Levy was honoured by being elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
- Levy left the National Physical Laboratory in 1920 and became an assistant professor of mathematics at the Royal College of Science of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London.
- In 1954 Levy retired and became Professor Emeritus but he agreed to continue to act as head of the mathematics department at Imperial College for one further year until 1955.
- Levy's main work was in numerical methods, numerical solution of differential equations, finite difference equations and statistics.
- However, Levy was more than a mathematician.
- His advice was followed and the Labour Party set up a Science Advisory Committee which Levy chaired from 1924 to 1930.
- The persecution of Jewish intellectuals in Russia which he found in the investigation appalled Levy.
- Rather than resign from the British Communist Party, Levy attacked the leadership of his own Party demanding to know whether they had been aware of the treatment of the Jews in Russia.
- A strong supporter of the London Mathematical Society during his career in London, Levy served the Society on its Council from 1929 to 1933, being vice-president of the Society during 1931-32.
Born 28 February 1889, Edinburgh, Scotland. Died 27 February 1975, Wimbledon, London, England.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin Scotland
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
- Github:
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- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
