George Gabriel Stokes

Mark McCartney studied mathematics and physics at The Queen's University, Belfast, graduating with a PhD in 1993. He is currently employed as senior lecturer in mathematics at Ulster University His research in applied mathematics is centred around nonlinear dynamics, while his work in the history of mathematics and natural philosophy focuses on the nineteenth century. He is President (2018-2020) of the British Society for the History of Mathematics.Andrew Whitaker did his first degree at Oxford University, and his doctorate at the University of Nottingham, where he worked on nuclear magnetic resonance with Peter Mansfield, later Sir Peter and a Nobel Laureate in Medicine for his part in the invention of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). He lectured in Northern Ireland from 1970, initially in the University of Ulster, and from 1989 at Queen's University of Belfast, where he became Professor in 2002. In later years most of his research has been in the foundations of quantum theory, especially the work of John Bell, and more recently he has become involved in historical aspects of physics, in particular quantum physics. Alastair Wood is a graduate of St.Andrews University and held Lectureships in the Universities of Manchester and Cranfield prior to becoming Wescan Professor of Applied Mathematics in Dublin City University, serving 9 years as Dean of Faculty. His main research areas of Asymptotic Analvsis and Differential Equations, where Stokes made major contributions, led him to a deeper appreciation of the man and his works. He was a plenary speaker at the 2003 Commemorations of the centenary of Stokes's death held in the Isaac Newton Institute and the Royal Irish Academy. With Michael Berry he organised the 1998 to 2004 Summer Schools at Stokes's birthplace in Co.Sligo.

• 1: Alistair Wood: Introductory biography2: Michael Sandford: The Stokes family in Ireland and Cambridge3: June Barrow-Green: "Stokes of Pembroke S.W. & a very good one" - The Mathematical Education of George Gabriel Stokes4: Oliver Darrigol: Stokes's optics I : Waves in lumeniferous ether5: Oliver Darrigol: Stokes's optics II : Other phenomena in light6: Peter Lynch: Stokes's fundamental contributions to fluid dynamics.7: Richard Paris: Stokes's Mathematical work8: Sloan Evans Despeaux: George Gabriel Stokes and the Royal Society9: Andrew Whitaker: Stokes and engineering: The analysis of the structure of railway bridges and their collapse10: Stuart Mathieson: Faith and thought: Stokes as a religious man of science11: Andrew Fowler: The Scientific legacy of George Gabriel Stokes

This book provided me with many insights into Stokes' life, science and faith and so amply fulfilled the promise of its title. Perhaps my background makes me somewhat biased, but I found it fascinating to read and would thoroughly recommend it as a way to learn about one of the less well known Victorian scientists who also had a clear Christian faith.