{{Short description|Scottish mathematician}} {{for|the Scottish footballer of the 1960s and 1970s|Ian Sneddon (footballer)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}} {{Use British English|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = Professor | name = Ian Sneddon | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE|FRS|FRSE|FIMA}} | birth_name = Ian Naismith Sneddon | native_name_lang = | image = <!--(filename only, i.e. without "File:" prefix)--> | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1919|12|8|df=y}} | birth_place = Glasgow, Scotland | death_date = {{death date and age|2000|11|4|1919|12|8|df=y}} | death_place = Glasgow, Scotland | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!--{{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}--> | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = | workplaces = University of Glasgow | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = University of Glasgow | thesis_title = <!--(or | thesis1_title = and | thesis2_title = )--> | thesis_url = <!--(or | thesis1_url = and | thesis2_url = )--> | thesis_year = <!--(or | thesis1_year = and | thesis2_year = )--> | doctoral_advisor = <!--(or | doctoral_advisors = )--> | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = Anthony Spencer<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Chadwick|first1=P.|last2=England|first2=A. H.|last3=Parker|first3=D. F.|title=Anthony James Merrill Spencer 23 August 1929 — 26 January 2008|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|year=2015|volume=61|pages=505–529|publisher=Royal Society publishing|issn=0080-4606|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2015.0003|doi-access=free}}</ref> | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = FRS<ref name=frs>{{Cite journal | last1 = Chadwick | first1 = P. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.2002.0025 | doi-access = free| title = Ian Naismith Sneddon, O.B.E. 8 December 1919 – 4 November 2000 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 48 | pages = 417–437 | year = 2002 | s2cid = 60804445 }}</ref> <br /> '''Eringen Medal''' {{small|(1979)}} | spouse = <!--(or | spouses = )--> | partner = <!--(or | partners = )--> | children = | signature = <!--(filename only)--> | signature_alt = | website = <!--{{URL|www.example.com}}--> | footnotes = }}
'''Ian Naismith Sneddon''' (8 December 1919 Glasgow, Scotland – 4 November 2000 Glasgow, Scotland) was a Scottish mathematician who worked on analysis and applied mathematics.<ref>{{cite journal|author=McBride, Adam|title=Death of I. N. Sneddon|journal=OP-SF Net|date=15 Jan 2001|url=http://math.nist.gov/opsf/personal/sneddon.html}}</ref><ref name=mactutor>{{MacTutor|id=Sneddon}}</ref>
==Life==
Sneddon was born in Glasgow on 8 December 1919, the son of Mary Ann Cameron and Naismith Sneddon. He was educated at Hyndland School in Glasgow.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
He studied mathematics and physics at the University of Glasgow, graduating with a BSc. He then went to the University of Cambridge, gaining an MA in 1941. From 1942 to 1945, during World War II, he served as a Scientific Officer to the Ministry of Supply. After the war he worked as a Research Officer for H H Wills Laboratory at the University of Bristol. In 1946, he began lecturing in Natural Philosophy (physics) at the University of Glasgow.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 1950, he received a professorship at University College of North Staffordshire. In 1956, he returned to the University of Glasgow as Professor of Mathematics.
In 1958, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Robert Alexander Rankin, Philip Ivor Dee, William Marshall Smart and Edward Copson. He won the Society's Makdougall-Brisbane Prize for the period 1956–58. In 1983, he was further elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="frs" />
He retired in 1985, and died in Glasgow on 4 November 2000.
==Family==
In 1943, he married Mary Campbell Macgregor.
==Research== Sneddon's research was published widely including: * with Nevill Mott: Wave mechanics and its applications, 1948 * Fourier transforms, 1951<ref>{{cite journal|author=Heins, Albert E.|title=Review: I. Sneddon, ''Fourier transforms''|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1952|volume=58|issue=4|pages=512–513|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1952-58-04/S0002-9904-1952-09636-1/|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1952-09636-1|doi-access=free}}</ref> * Special functions of mathematical physics and chemistry, 1956<ref>{{cite journal|author=Cohen, E. Richard|title=Review: ''Special functions of mathematical physics and chemistry''|journal=Physics Today|year=1956|volume=9|issue=11|page=46|doi=10.1063/1.3059825}}</ref> * Elements of partial differential equations, 1957<ref>{{cite journal|author=Polkinghorne, J. C.|title=Review: ''Elements of partial differential equations''|journal=Physics Today|year=1957|volume=10|issue=5|page=36|doi=10.1063/1.3060371}}</ref> * with James George Defares: An introduction to the mathematics of medicine and biology, 1960<ref>{{cite journal|author=Jones, D. S.|title=Review: ''An introduction to the mathematics of medicine and biology''|journal=Proc. Edinburgh Math. Soc.|year=1961|volume=12|issue=3|pages=166–167|doi=10.1017/S0013091500002911|doi-access=free}}</ref> * Mixed boundary problems in potential theory, 1966 * Lectures on transform methods, 1967 * with Morton Lowengrub: Crack problems in the classical theory of elasticity, 1969 * The use of integral transforms, 1972 * The linear theory of thermoelasticity, 1974 * Encyclopaedic dictionary of mathematics for engineers and applied scientists, 1976 * The use of operators of fractional integration in applied mathematics, 1979 * with E. L. Ince: The solution of ordinary differential equations, 1987
==Awards and honours== Sneddon received Honorary Doctorates from Warsaw University (1973), Heriot-Watt University (1982)<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm|title = Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates|last = |website = www1.hw.ac.uk|access-date = 2016-04-05|archive-date = 18 April 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160418163907/http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm|url-status = dead}}</ref> University of Hull (1983) and University of Strathclyde (1984).
==References== {{reflist|35em}}
{{FRS 1983}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sneddon, Ian Naismith}} Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Category:Scientists from Glasgow Category:1919 births Category:2000 deaths Category:20th-century Scottish mathematicians Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow Category:British fellows of the Royal Society