Person: Coulson, Charles Alfred

Charles Coulson's main area of interest was molecular physical chemistry, but he contributed to many other areas.

Shortly after their marriage the couple moved to Dundee where Coulson was appointed as senior lecturer in mathematics at Queen's College, part of the University of St Andrews.
As a devout Methodist, Coulson was a conscientious objector during World War II.
In 1941 Coulson published Waves.
Clearly D E Rutherford, who taught applied mathematics at St Andrews, had assisted Coulson who expresses his thanks to him in the Preface.
In 1945 Coulson was appointed as a lecturer in mathematics at University College, Oxford, where he was also a fellow at the Physical Chemistry Laboratory.
Coulson thanks E T Copson in the Preface of the book for his help in preparing the text.
Coulson left his chair in London in 1952 when he was appointed Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford where he was also made a fellow of Wadham College.
In 1970 Coulson underwent an operation for cancer of the prostate.
Coulson was elected President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications in 1972 and held this position until his death.
Coulson was a talented expositor and this is demonstrated in all his works such as Waves and Electricity which we made special mention of above, and also his best-selling work Valence published in 1952.
Many honours were thrust on Coulson for his outstanding contributions to mathematics and chemistry.
However, one must not think that, because Coulson undertook such a massive amount of scientific work, he would have no time for other activities.

Born 13 December 1910, Dudley, near Birmingham, England. Died 7 January 1974, Oxford, 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