Person: Nicolson, Phyllis
Phyllis Nicolson was an English mathematician best known for her work in numerical analysis.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Phyllis was educated at Stockport High School for Girls which was built in 1910 in the Cale Green district of Stockport, close to Davenport railway station.
- In 1939 he moved to the University of Manchester and began advising Phyllis Lockett.
- Angus Nicolson worked for McAlpines mostly in Manchester.
- Malcolm Nicolson was a graduate of Manchester University, and was doing war service in the Royal Navy at the time of his marriage.
- In the latter part of 1940, Malcolm Nicolson was called up for war service.
- The analyser team was strengthened further in 1942 with the addition of Jack Michel, who along with Howlett, Eyres, and Nicolson remained until the end of the war.
- Phyllis Nicolson published joint papers with Hartree, Howlett, Eyres: Evaluation of the Solution of the Wave Equation for a Stratified Medium appeared as Air Defense Research & Development Establishment, Memorandum 47, May 1944; and Evaluation of the Solution of the Wave Equation for a Stratified Medium: Normalisation appeared as Radar Research and Development Establishment Report No. 279, March 1945.
- Phyllis Nicolson was awarded a Ph.D. in 1946 by the University of Manchester for her thesis Three Problems in Theoretical Physics.
- Donald Macleod Nicolson was born in Cambridge on 20 September 1947.
- On 5 February 1950 Phyllis's second son, Roderick Ian Nicolson, was born in Leeds.
- Edward Lloyd, Belmont Avenue, Liverpool lecturer in physics at Liverpool University, said that at 9.40 p.m. on Friday, after he had waited for Dr Nicolson at his home, he went to Newlay station and found him lying dead between the rails.
- He did not think Dr Nicolson had been run over by a train but had been probably struck by one.
- William James, a porter at Newlay station, said he told Dr Nicolson the train he was waiting for would arrive at No. 1 platform.
- Dr Nicolson had then crossed over to the No. 1 platform by the proper public crossing.
- Police Sergeant N Burton said Dr Nicolson's body was found on No. 4 line.
- The Coroner said Dr Nicolson was "a brilliant man." "This is a sad and untimely end to a promising career," he said.
- He thought Dr Nicolson had made his first mistake in going to the wrong station to look for his friends.
- Malcolm Nicolson's funeral took place at Horsforth Cemetery.
- We have not yet mentioned the work for which Phyllis Nicolson is best known, namely her joint work with John Crank on the heat equation which was published in the paper A practical method for numerical evaluation of solutions of partial differential equations of the heat-conduction type (1947).
- Looking for the best people, he had no hesitation in suggesting John Crank, a former student of his, and Phyllis (Lockett) Nicolson.
- In this paper Crank and Nicolson present an implicit method requiring an iterative process at each step.
- The instability was not recognised until lengthy numerical computations were carried out by Crank, Nicolson and others.
- Crank and Nicolson's method, which is numerically stable, requires the solution of a very simple system of linear equations (a tridiagonal system) at each time level.
- But the competition for male mathematically skilled war-workers was very high and opportunity opened to Phyllis Lockett, a recent Manchester graduate.
- But it was her theoretical contributions that have lasted the longest; she went on to co-develop the Crank-Nicolson algorithm which is still in use today by (electronic) computers.
- Phyllis died of breast cancer in 1968.
Born 21 September 1917, Macclesfield, England. Died 6 October 1968, Sheffield, England.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin England, Women
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
