# Nigel Weiss > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Nigel_Weiss > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Nigel_Weiss.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Weiss > Source revision: 1328718851 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Professor of mathematics and astronomy (1936–2020)}} {{EngvarB|date=July 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Nigel Weiss | birth_name = Nigel Oscar Weiss |image = Nigel_Weiss.gif |image_size = |caption = |birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1936|12|16}} |birth_place = [South Africa](/source/Union_of_South_Africa) |death_date = {{death date and age|2020|06|24|1936|12|16|df=yes}}{{R|Twitter}} |death_place = |residence = |citizenship = |nationality = |ethnicity = |fields = |workplaces = [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge) |alma_mater = [Clare College, Cambridge](/source/Clare_College%2C_Cambridge) | thesis_title = Variable Hydromagnetic Motions | thesis_url = | thesis_year = 1961 |doctoral_advisor = [Edward Bullard](/source/Edward_Bullard) |academic_advisor = |doctoral_students = {{Plainlist| * [Paul Glendinning](/source/Paul_Glendinning) * [Vivien Kirk](/source/Vivien_Kirk) * [Richard Peckover](/source/Richard_Peckover) * [Mike Tildesley](/source/Mike_Tildesley)}} |notable_students = |known_for = flux expulsion |influences = |influenced = |awards = {{Plainlist| * [FRS](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society) (1992) * [Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society](/source/Gold_Medal_of_the_Royal_Astronomical_Society) (2007)}} |religion = |signature = | website = {{URL|damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/now|Nigel Weiss's home page}} |footnotes = }} '''Nigel Oscar Weiss''' [FRS](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society){{Cite journal |last=Proctor |first=Michael |date=2023 |title=Nigel Oscar Weiss. 16 December 1936 — 24 June 2020 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society |volume=74|pages=439–456 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.2022.0039 |doi-access=free }} (16 December 1936 – 24 June 2020){{R|whoswho|Twitter}} was an [astronomer](/source/astronomer) and mathematician, and leader in the field of astrophysical and geophysical [fluid dynamics](/source/fluid_dynamics). He was [Emeritus](/source/Emeritus) Professor of Mathematical [Astrophysics](/source/Astrophysics) at the [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge). ==Education== Born in South Africa, Weiss studied at [Hilton College](/source/Hilton_College_(South_Africa)), [Natal](/source/KwaZulu-Natal), [Rugby School](/source/Rugby_School) and [Clare College, Cambridge](/source/Clare_College%2C_Cambridge), and had been a fellow of Clare College since 1965. He read for his PhD in 1961 with a thesis on Variable Hydromagnetic Motions. ==Career== In 1987 he became Professor of Mathematical Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge. Between 2000 and 2002 he was President of the [Royal Astronomical Society](/source/Royal_Astronomical_Society), and in 2007 was awarded the [Gold Medal](/source/Gold_Medal_of_the_Royal_Astronomical_Society), the society's highest award. ==Research== Weiss published extensively in the field of mathematical astrophysics, specialising in solar and [stellar magnetic field](/source/stellar_magnetic_field)s, astrophysical and geophysical [fluid dynamics](/source/fluid_dynamics) and nonlinear [dynamical systems](/source/dynamical_systems). In 1966 he was the first to demonstrate and describe the process of 'flux expulsion' by which a conducting fluid undergoing rotating motion acts to expel the magnetic flux from the region of motion, a process now known to occur in the [photosphere](/source/photosphere) of the [Sun](/source/Sun) and other stars. ==Awards and honours== Weiss was elected a Fellow of the [Royal Society](/source/Royal_Society) (FRS) in 1992. His nomination reads {{centred pull quote|Professor Weiss is distinguished for his work in the theory of convection, for developing appropriate numerical techniques, and for pioneering their use in precise numerical experiments to gain a qualitative and comprehensive understanding of the behaviour of complicated [nonlinear systems](/source/nonlinear_systems). Among many notable achievements in this field, he has been instrumental in the identification of a period-doubling route to chaos in a system of partial differential equations describing doubly-diffusive convection. He has made wide-ranging studies of the magneto-convective processes occurring in the Sun and similar stars. In early work of lasting influence, he analysed the process of [magnetic flux](/source/magnetic_flux) expulsion and the mechanism of concentration of [magnetic field](/source/magnetic_field) into ropes from which [fluid motion](/source/Fluid_dynamics) is excluded. In recent work, he has initiated a program of research in the field of nonlinear compressible convection, an important step towards realistic modelling of stellar convection zones.}} ==References== {{MathGenealogy |id=50416}} {{cite web|url=http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/now/|title=Nigel Weiss's home page|date=23 June 2020 |publisher=DAMTP}} {{Cite journal | doi = 10.1098/rspa.1966.0173| title = The Expulsion of Magnetic Flux by Eddies| journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences| volume = 293| issue = 1434| pages = 310–328| year = 1966| last1 = Weiss | first1 = N. O.|bibcode = 1966RSPSA.293..310W | s2cid = 121923566}} {{cite web |url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC%2F1992%2F38%27) |title=EC/1992/38: Weiss, Nigel Oscar. Library and Archive Catalogue |publisher=[The Royal Society](/source/The_Royal_Society) |archive-date=8 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708141655/https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=%28RefNo%3D%3D%27EC%2F1992%2F38%27%29 |location=London |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }} {{Scopus|id=7201692694}} {{Cite journal | doi = 10.1023/A:1005026001784| year = 1998| last1 = Beer | first1 = J. R. | journal = Solar Physics| volume = 181| issue = 1|title=An Active Sun Throughout the Maunder Minimum| pages = 237–249| last2 = Tobias | first2 = S. | last3 = Weiss | first3 = N. | bibcode = 1998SoPh..181..237B| s2cid = 122019951| url = https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/eawag/islandora/object/eawag%3A3949| url-access = subscription}} {{cite web | title=Helen Mason – Nigel Weiss has died| website=Twitter | url=https://twitter.com/helen_hm11/status/1275865728965623808 | access-date=26 June 2020}} {{cite web |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U39259|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U39259 |title=WEISS, Prof. Nigel Oscar|work=Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press }}{{subscription required|accessdate=24 April 2019}} {{FRS 1992}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Nigel Oscar}} Category:1936 births Category:2020 deaths Category:South African astronomers Category:South African mathematicians Category:Cambridge mathematicians Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Category:Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge Category:Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society Category:South African scientists category:South African Jews Category:White South African people Category:Alumni of Hilton College (South Africa) Category:People educated at Rugby School --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Nigel Weiss](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Weiss) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Weiss?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.