George Gabriel Stokes was an Irish mathematician and physicist who was born in Skreen, County Sligo in 1819. His childhood was a very religious one, as his father was the Protestant minister of Skreen and his mother was a daughter of a minister. He was the youngest of six children and every one of his three brothers went on to become priests.
George Stokes
George Gabriel Stokes was an Irish mathematician and physicist who was born in Skreen, County Sligo in 1819.
WikicommonsGeorge Stokes
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George Stokes
George Gabriel Stokes was an Irish mathematician and physicist who was born in Skreen, County Sligo in 1819.
WikicommonsGeorge was taught Latin grammar by his father at an early age and then went to school in Dublin for three years. It was here that his talent for mathematics was first noticed. It was during George's three years in Dublin that his father died and this had a major effect on him.
In 1835, at the age of 16, George moved to England to Bristol College to help prepare himself for his studies at Cambridge University. In 1841, he graduated as Senior Wrangler (the best mark in his class) and he also won the Smith's prizeman (a prize given to research students of physics and mathematics at Cambridge).
His work
His work was based on the movement of waves and fluids through different types of atmosphere. From this, Stokes' law, Stokes' theorem, Stokes line, Stokes relation and Stokes shift were all written and accepted as mathematical formulae.
His work was so well respected that he won various honours down the years. For example, he was awarded the Rumford Medal in 1852 by the Royal Society of London for his recent discoveries in physics. He was also awarded the Copley Medal, which is the highest award granted by the Royal Society. The winner of this award was presented with a silver medal and £5,000.
Stokes was very passionate about his work and was a great inspiration to many young scientists. He would offer all kinds of help and assistance to those that needed it up until his death in 1903.