Everything about Douglas Hartree totally explained
Douglas Rayner Hartree PhD,
FRS (
March 27,
1897 –
February 12,
1958) was an
English mathematician and
physicist most famous for the development of
numerical analysis and its application to
atomic physics.
Early life
Douglas Hartree was born in
Cambridge,
United Kingdom. His father William was a lecturer in
engineering at the
University, and his mother Eva Rayner was president of the
National Council of Women and mayor of the city. One of his great-grandfathers was
Samuel Smiles. He was the oldest of three sons, although his two younger brothers didn't survive to adulthood. He attended
St John's College, Cambridge but the
first world war interrupted his studies. He joined a group working on anti-aircraft
ballistics under
A. V. Hill, where he gained considerable skill and an abiding interest in practical calculation and numerical methods, executing most of his own work with pencil and paper.
The Hartree-Fock method
After the end of
World War I, Hartree returned to Cambridge. In 1921, a visit by
Niels Bohr to Cambridge inspired Douglas to apply his knowledge of
numerical analysis to the solution of
differential equations for the calculation of atomic
wavefunctions. Later that year, Douglas graduated with a
Second Class degree in natural sciences. He later obtained his
Ph.D. in
1926. Even at this stage, he was applying his numerical skill to problems in
quantum mechanics and developing what came to be known as the
Hartree-Fock method, making possible calculations that had previously been seen as intractable.
Manchester years
In
1929, he was appointed to the
Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics at the
University of Manchester. In
1933, he visited
Vannevar Bush at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and learned at first hand about his
differential analyser. Immediately on his return to
Manchester, he set about building his own analyser from
Meccano. Seeing the potential for further exploiting his numerical methods using the machine he prevailed on Sir
Robert McDougall to fund a more robust machine which was built in collaboration with
Metropolitan Vickers.
The first application of the machine reflected Hartree's enthusiasm for
railways in calculating timetables for the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway. The machine was also applied in ballistics and other military calculations.
Later life and work
Hartree moved to theoretical physics in
1937 before returning to Cambridge to take up the post of Plummer professor of mathematical physics in
1946. He did further work in
control systems and was involved in the early application of
digital computers, advising the
U.S. military on the use of
ENIAC for calculating ballistics tables.
Hartree's last Ph.D. student at Cambridge,
Charlotte Froese Fischer, would become world-famous for the development and implementation of the multi-configuration Hartree-Fock (
MCHF) approach to
atomic structure calculations and for her theoretical prediction concerning the existence of the
negative calcium ion.
He died of
heart failure in
Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge.
Honours
Further Information
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