L. M. Milne-Thomson

Louis Melville Milne-Thomson CBE FRSE RAS (1 May 1891 – 21 August 1974) was an English applied mathematician who wrote several classic textbooks on applied mathematics, including The Calculus of Finite Differences, Theoretical Hydrodynamics, and Theoretical Aerodynamics. He is also known for developing several mathematical tables such as Jacobian Elliptic Function Tables. The Milne-Thomson circle theorem and the Milne-Thomson method for finding a holomorphic function are named after him. Milne-Thomson was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1952.

Early years and career Milne-Thomson was born in Ealing, London, England on 1 May 1891 to Colonel Alexander Milne-Thomson, a physician and Eva Mary Milne, the daughter of the Revd J. Milne.

In 1914 Milne-Thomson joined Winchester College in Hampshire as an assistant mathematics master and taught there for next seven years. In 1921 he was appointed professor of mathematics at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich and remained there until retirement at the age of 65.

After retiring from the Royal Naval College, Milne-Thomson took up various posts as Visiting Professor at various institutions around the world, including the Brown University at Rhode Island, the US Army Mathematics Research Center at the University of Wisconsin (1958–1960), the University of Arizona (1961–1970), University of Rome (1968), the University of Queensland (1969), the University of Calgary (1970), and finally the University of Otago (1971). and more material based on his own research was added in the subsequent editions of this classic book. The fifth edition appeared thirty years later in 1968. The book was republished by Dover Publications in 1996. Similarly, Theoretical Aerodynamics, first published in 1948, went through a number of editions with the fourth appearing in 1968.