Hyman Levy

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Prof Hyman Levy FRSE (28 February 1889 – 27 February 1975)[1][a] was a Scottish-Jewish philosopher, Emeritus Professor of Imperial College London, mathematician, political activist and fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[2]

Life

The son of Minna Cohen and Marcus Levy, a picture-framer and occasional art dealer in Edinburgh, Hyman was the third oldest of eight children.[3] They lived at 70 Bristo Street in Edinburgh's South Side.[4]

He went to school at George Heriot's School[5] a short distance from his family home, and was the School Dux.[6] He then studied mathematics at Edinburgh University. Having declined the opportunity to study at Cambridge University on account of its complicity in Britain's class system, he instead chose to conduct further research at the University of Göttingen in Germany.[1][3] At the outbreak of World War I he returned to Britain. In 1916 he joined the Royal Flying Corps.[7] It is unclear if he saw active service but it inspired an interest in aerodynamics.

Researching aeronautics at the National Physical Laboratory, Levy published papers and books on mathematical applications pertaining to the subject. He also wrote about differential equations and probability.[3] After leaving the Laboratory, he became a professor of mathematics at the Royal College of Science, Imperial College London, where he later served as head of the mathematics department. In recognition of his contribution he subsequently became dean of the Royal College itself.[8]

In 1916 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Cargill Gilston Knott, Edmund Taylor Whittaker, James Robert Milne and George Alexander Carse.[9]

In 1918, he married Marion Aitken Fraser,[5] despite the disapproval of his family.[3] They had three children. Levy was in the Labour Party from 1920 to 1931, and then in 1931 he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain. Despite his theoretical allegiance to the principles of communism, Levy became disappointed by the way the Russian communists treated Jews, and published on the topic, leading to his expulsion from the party in 1958.[5]

He died in Wimbledon, London on 27 February 1975.[10]

Following Levy's paper "On Goldbach's Conjecture" from 1963, Lemoine's conjecture is incorrectly referred to by MathWorld as "Levy's conjecture."[11]

Publications

  • Finite Difference Equations, co-authored with F. Lessman; Pitman (Dec 1959), ISBN 978-0486672601.
  • Aeronautics in Theory and Experiment, co-authored with William Lewis Cowley; ASIN: B000WUT77A; republished by BiblioBazaar; ISBN 978-0559313677.
  • Jews and the National Question, Hillway Pub. Co., London; 1st Edition (1958); ASIN: B0007J87TA.
  • Aspects of Dialectical Materialism, co-authored with Ralph Fox. John MacMurray et al.; Watts (1935), London; ASIN: B0037ZPVHC.
  • Literature for an age of science, Methuen (1952); ASIN: B0000CIEER.
  • Social Thinking, Cobbett (1945); ASIN: B0014KNTQW.
  • Elementary Statistics (Nelson's Aeroscience Manuals), Nelson (1945); ASIN: B001P8HX9C.
  • Elementary Statistics (Nelson's Aeroscience Manuals), Thomas Nelson (1945); ASIN: B00978213K.
  • Soviet Jews at war, pamphlet, Russia Today Society (1943); ASIN: B00KBTLNDI.
  • Science: Curse Or Blessing?, Watts & Co. (1940); ASIN: B0026OCT8O.
  • Elementary Mathematics, Thomas Nelson & Sons (1942); ASIN: B0007DT7RC.
  • Modern Science – A Study of Physical Science in the World Today, Hamish Hamilton (1939); ASIN: B00085G0RO.[12]
  • Elementary Statistics, Nelson (1959), London; ASIN: B000OUHSRO.
  • A Philosophy for a Modern Man; Alfred A. Knopf (1938); ASIN: B0006DA3US.
  • Modern Engineering Theory & Practice, co-authored with Bailey Levy; Odhams Press Ltd (1935); ASIN: B000R7AJPW.
  • Practical Mathematical Analysis ... With examples by the translator, co-authored with Horst von Sanden; ASIN: B0017WK6S6.
  • The Universe of Science; republished by Rupa and Co, New Delhi; ISBN 81-291-0168-8.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Who's Who records his birth date as 7 March 1889. See "LEVY, Hyman". Who's Who & Who Was Who. Vol. 2023 (online ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

References

  1. ^ a b Stewart, John, "Levy, Hyman (1889–1975)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, September 2004. Retrieved 12 February 2023 (subscription required)
  2. ^ Staff,Hyman Levy Gazetteer for Scotland, Retrieved 10 February 2010
  3. ^ a b c d O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Hyman Levy", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
  4. ^ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1890–91
  5. ^ a b c Facsimile of the Obituary of Levy Hyman, published in The Times, reproduced by St Andrews University
  6. ^ "School Captains and Duxes George Heriot's School". www.george-heriots.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  7. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  8. ^ "Levy_Hyman biography". www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  9. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  10. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  11. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Levy's Conjecture". MathWorld.
  12. ^ MacDonald, J. K. L. (1940). "Review: Modern Science, A Study of Physical Science in the World Today by Hyman Levy" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 46 (3): 209–210. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1940-07166-6.

Further reading

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