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Edward Copson
Times obituary
Professor Edward Copson, FRSE, who died last month, was Regius Professor of Mathematics at St. Andrew's University from 1950 to 1969 and was a former Master of the United College. He was 78.
Edward Thomas Copson was educated at King Henry VIII School in Coventry and at St. John's College, Oxford, where he gained a First Class degree in Mathematics. His first appointment, as a lecturer in Mathematics in Edinburgh, was in 1922, in his 21st year. His professor, Sir Edmund Whittaker, was not only renowned as a mathematician, but as a pioneer of astrophysics, an interest Copson was himself to pursue in later life
In 1930 he was appointed to a lectureship at the University of St. Andrews. In 1934 he went as Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, but the very next year the chair of Mathematics fell vacant at University College, Dundee, and Copson was the obvious choice for the post. He remained there until 1950, when he was appointed to the Regius Chair at St. Andrews. He was Dean of the Faculty of Science from 1950 to 1953, and in 1954 he became the first Master of the United College.
Copson was known by mathematicians the world over, through his mathematical work, and particularly through his book The Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable, which was published in 1935 and is still recommended to undergraduates as a standard textbook—an extraordinary achievement in a rapidly changing world. Several highly successful books followed, the last, Partial Differential Equations, written after his retirement.
His published papers span more than half a century. His last (1978), entitled Electrostatics in a gravitational field, was relevant to the highly fashionable subject of black holes. It was typical of his work, very much at the borderline between mathematics and physical science, and exhibiting technical skill in classical analysis that is rare today.
Copson was a good teacher, whether behind the rostrum with his general class or in tutorials or seminars with his honours or research students; and his sideroom and his home were always open to all his students. His influence in and beyond St Andrews can be measured by the number of members of university departments, not all in mathematics, who were his pupils. On his retirement, he was made Emeritus Professor of Mathematics.
He married, in 1931, Beatrice Mary, elder daughter of his Edinburgh Professor, Edmund Whittaker, FRS. They had two daughters
Professor Edward Copson, FRSE, who died last month, was Regius Professor of Mathematics at St. Andrew's University from 1950 to 1969 and was a former Master of the United College. He was 78.
Edward Thomas Copson was educated at King Henry VIII School in Coventry and at St. John's College, Oxford, where he gained a First Class degree in Mathematics. His first appointment, as a lecturer in Mathematics in Edinburgh, was in 1922, in his 21st year. His professor, Sir Edmund Whittaker, was not only renowned as a mathematician, but as a pioneer of astrophysics, an interest Copson was himself to pursue in later life
In 1930 he was appointed to a lectureship at the University of St. Andrews. In 1934 he went as Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, but the very next year the chair of Mathematics fell vacant at University College, Dundee, and Copson was the obvious choice for the post. He remained there until 1950, when he was appointed to the Regius Chair at St. Andrews. He was Dean of the Faculty of Science from 1950 to 1953, and in 1954 he became the first Master of the United College.
Copson was known by mathematicians the world over, through his mathematical work, and particularly through his book The Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable, which was published in 1935 and is still recommended to undergraduates as a standard textbook—an extraordinary achievement in a rapidly changing world. Several highly successful books followed, the last, Partial Differential Equations, written after his retirement.
His published papers span more than half a century. His last (1978), entitled Electrostatics in a gravitational field, was relevant to the highly fashionable subject of black holes. It was typical of his work, very much at the borderline between mathematics and physical science, and exhibiting technical skill in classical analysis that is rare today.
Copson was a good teacher, whether behind the rostrum with his general class or in tutorials or seminars with his honours or research students; and his sideroom and his home were always open to all his students. His influence in and beyond St Andrews can be measured by the number of members of university departments, not all in mathematics, who were his pupils. On his retirement, he was made Emeritus Professor of Mathematics.
He married, in 1931, Beatrice Mary, elder daughter of his Edinburgh Professor, Edmund Whittaker, FRS. They had two daughters
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