E. T. Whittaker

Sir Edmund Whittaker FRS FRSE LL.D. Sc.D.
A 1933 portrait of Whittaker by Arthur Trevor Haddon titled Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker
Born	(1873-10-24)24 October 1873 Southport, Lancashire, England
Died	24 March 1956(1956-03-24) (aged 82) George Square, Edinburgh, Scotland
Nationality	English
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Known for	Reference books (see list) Whittaker function Whittaker model Whittaker–Nyquist–Kotelnikov–Shannon theorem Whittaker–Shannon interpolation formula Sir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize Rapidity
Spouse	Mary Ferguson Macnaghten Boyd
Awards	Smith's Prize (1897)[1] FRS (1905)[2] FRSE (1912)[3] Gunning Prize (1929)[4] Sylvester Medal (1931)[4] De Morgan Medal (1935)[4] Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (1935)[5] Copley Medal (1954)[4]
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics Astronomy Mathematical physics History of science
Institutions	University of Edinburgh Trinity College Dublin
Academic advisors	Andrew Russell Forsyth[6] George Howard Darwin[6]
Doctoral students	Alexander Aitken[6] G. H. Hardy[6][7] George C. McVittie[6] R. S. Vaidyanathaswamy[6] G. N. Watson[6][7]
Other notable students	Harry Bateman[7] Freeman Dyson Arthur Eddington[7][6] Marion Cameron Gray W. V. D. Hodge[6] James Jeans[7][6] John Edensor Littlewood[7] G. I. Taylor[7] Herbert Turnbull[7] Éamon de Valera[2][7] Arthur Walker[7]

Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker FRS FRSE (24 October 1873 – 24 March 1956) was a British mathematician, physicist, and historian of science. Whittaker was a leading mathematical scholar of the early 20th century who contributed widely to applied mathematics and was renowned for his research in mathematical physics and numerical analysis, including the theory of special functions, along with his contributions to astronomy, celestial mechanics, the history of physics, and digital signal processing.

Among the most influential publications in Whittaker's bibliography, he authored several popular reference works in mathematics, physics, and the history of science, including A Course of Modern Analysis (better known as Whittaker and Watson), Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies, and A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity. Whittaker is also remembered for his role in the relativity priority dispute, as he credited Henri Poincaré and Hendrik Lorentz with developing special relativity in the second volume of his History, a dispute which has lasted several decades, though scientific consensus has remained with Einstein. Whittaker served as the Royal Astronomer of Ireland early in his career, a position he held from 1906 through 1912, before moving on to the chair of mathematics at the University of Edinburgh for the next three decades and, towards the end of his career, received the Copley Medal and was knighted. The School of Mathematics of the University of Edinburgh holds The Whittaker Colloquium, a yearly lecture, in his honour and the Edinburgh Mathematical Society promotes an outstanding young Scottish mathematician once every four years with the Sir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize, also given in his honour.