John William Nicholson, 1881-1955

Abstract

John William Nicholson, who was born on 1 November 1881, was a great mathematician whose chief interest was in attacking problems arising out of physics and astrophysics. How interesting these problems must have been in the days when he was still a student at Manchester and Cambridge will be appreciated when it is recalled that he must have been just over 19 years of age when Planck communicated his theory of the distribution of energy in the normal spectrum to the German Physical Society (14 December 1900) with its rather startling innovation of the elementary quantum of action. Before that very few could contemplate any modification or expansion of Newton’s mechanical principles, which, it was generally believed, were sufficient to account for all physical phenomena; though Kelvin’s clouds had already appeared on the horizon. Nicholson was born at Darlington and was the eldest son of John William Nicholson of Highcliffe, Redcar, Yorks and Alice Emily, daughter of John Kirton of Darlington. He was educated at the Middlesbrough High School where he remained till 1898. Here he showed great aptitude in all subjects, but especially in mathematics and science. As a boy he was very fond of country rambles and was an enthusiastic entomologist. He is said to have made fine collections of butterflies, moths, beetles, etc., and one suspects that his enthusiasm for anything of a mathematical character deprived the world of a great biologist!