The Postcard
A postcard bearing no publisher's name that was posted in Tottenham on Friday the 7th. June 1907 to:
Mrs. Morrison,
23, Princes Avenue,
Church End,
Finchley.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Friday.
Thank you for your
letter. We shall hope
to see you about
4pm on Sunday.
We have only had two
showers today!
Why doesn't it rain - I
don't think it's nice.
Love from K. S.
p.s. Please keep Mrs.
O. Perrit's card for me,
also her letter."
Edward Routh
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, the 7th. June 1907 was not a good day for Edward Routh, because he died on that day.
Edward John Routh FRS, who was born in 1831, was an English mathematician, noted as an outstanding coach of students preparing for the Mathematical Tripos examination of the University of Cambridge in the middle of the nineteenth century.
He also did much to systematise the mathematical theory of mechanics, and created several ideas critical to the development of modern control systems theory.
Edward Routh - The Early Years
Edward John Routh was born of an English father and a French-Canadian mother in Quebec, at that time the British colony of Lower Canada. His father's family could trace its history back to the Norman conquest when it acquired land at Routh near Beverley, Yorkshire.
His mother's family, the Taschereau family, was well-established in Quebec, tracing their ancestry back to the early days of the French colony.
His parents were Sir Randolph Isham Routh (1782–1858) and his second wife, Marie Louise Taschereau (1810–1891).
Routh came to England at the age of eleven and attended University College School and then entered University College, London in 1847, having won a scholarship. There he studied under Augustus De Morgan, whose influence led to Routh to decide on a career in mathematics.
Routh obtained his BA (1849) and MA (1853) in London. He attended Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he was taught by Isaac Todhunter and William Hopkins. While at Peterhouse, Routh rowed for the Peterhouse Boat Club.
In 1854, Routh graduated just above James Clerk Maxwell as Senior Wrangler, sharing the Smith's prize with him. Routh was elected fellow of Peterhouse in 1856.
Edward Routh as a Mathematics Tutor
On graduation, Routh took up work as a private mathematics tutor in Cambridge, and took on the pupils of William John Steele during the latter's fatal illness, though insisting that Steele take the fees. Routh went on to establish an unbeaten record as a coach.
He coached over 600 pupils between 1855 and 1888, 28 of them making Senior wrangler.
Routh worked conscientiously and systematically, taking rigidly timetabled classes of ten pupils during the day and spending the evenings preparing extra material for the ablest men. One commented:
"His lectures were enlivened by
mathematical jokes of a rather
heavy kind."
Routh was a staunch defender of the Cambridge competitive system, and despaired when the university started to publish examination results in alphabetical order, observing:
"They will want to run the
Derby alphabetically next".
Edward Routh's Private Life
Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy sought to entice Routh to work at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Though Airy did not succeed, at Greenwich Routh met Airy's eldest daughter Hilda (1840–1916) whom he married in 1864.
At the time, the university had a celibacy requirement, forcing Routh to vacate his fellowship and move out of Peterhouse. On the reformation of the college statutes, removing the celibacy requirement, Routh was the first person elected to an honorary fellowship by Peterhouse.
The couple had five sons and a daughter. Routh was described as:
"A kindly man and a good
conversationalist with friends,
but with strangers he was shy
and reserved."
Edward Routh's Work in Mechanics
Routh collaborated with Henry Brougham on the Analytical View of Sir Isaac Newton's Principia (1855). He published a textbook, Dynamics of a System of Rigid Bodies (1860) in which he did much to define and systematise the modern mathematical approach to mechanics.
Routh noted the importance of what he called "absent coordinates," also known as cyclic coordinates or ignorable coordinates. Such coordinates are associated with conserved momenta and as such are useful in problem solving.
Routh also devised a new method for solving problems in mechanics. Although Routh's procedure does not add any new insights, it allows for more systematic and convenient analysis, especially in problems with many degrees of freedom and at least some cyclic coordinates.
Edward Routh's Work in Stability and Control
In addition to his intensive work in teaching and writing, which had a persistent effect on the presentation of mathematical physics, he also contributed original research such as the Routh–Hurwitz theorem.
Central tenets of modern control systems theory relied upon the Routh stability criterion (though nowadays due to modern computers it is not as important), an application of Sturm's theorem to evaluate Cauchy indices through the use of the Euclidean algorithm.
The Death of John Routh
John died at the age of 76 in Cambridge on the 7th. June 1907.
