Peter Guthrie Tait

1831 - 1901

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Peter Guthrie Tait was a fellow-pupil of Maxwell at Edinburgh Academy and both of them went on to study at Edinburgh University and Cambridge. Tait became Professor of Mathematics at Queen's College Belfast and then moved to the Chair of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh which he occupied for more than 40 years. With his collaborations with Maxwell, Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and Hamilton he made important contributions in both mathematics and physics. He became one of the first honorary members of the EMS in 1883.
Full MacTutor biography [Version for printing]
List of References (13 books/articles)

A Quotation

Mathematicians born in the same country

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Additional Material in MacTutor

  1. Topology and Scottish mathematical physics
  2. Tait's scrapbook
  3. Tait's 1888 address to the graduates
  4. EMS honours Maxwell and Tait
  5. Obituary: The Times

Honours awarded to P G Tait
(Click below for those honoured in this way)
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh1861
EMS Founder Member1883
Honorary Fellow of the Edinburgh Maths Society1883
Royal Society Royal Medal1886

Other Web sites
  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
  1. NNDB
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