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Peter Guthrie Tait
Sign in to saveAlso known as Peter Tait, P. G. Tait
Scottish mathematical physicist (1831–1901)
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1831-04-28 ) 28 April 1831, Dalkeith , Scotland
- Died
- 4 July 1901 (1901-07-04) (aged 70), Edinburgh , Scotland
- Alma mater
- University of Edinburgh Peterhouse, Cambridge
- Known for
- Knot theory Ménage problem Snark Tait conjectures Tait equation Tait–Bryan angles Tait–Kneser theorem
- Awards
- Smith's Prize (1852) Keith Medal (1867–69) Royal Medal (1886)
- Fields
- Mathematical physics
- Institutions
- University of Edinburgh Peterhouse, Cambridge
- Academic advisors
- William Hopkins
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Place of birth
- Dalkeith
- Place of death
- Edinburgh
- Occupation
- physicist
- Educated at
- University of Cambridge
- Employer
- Peterhouse
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Notable work
- snark
- Doctoral advisor
- William Hopkins
- Field of work
- thermodynamics
- Image
- George Reid (1841-1913) - Professor Peter Guthrie Tait (1831–1901), Physicist - PG 600 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg
- Work location
- Scotland
Show 10 more facts
- date of birth
- 1831-04-28
- date of death
- 1901-07-04
- Commons category
- Peter Guthrie Tait
- member of
- Royal Society of Edinburgh
- described by source
- The Nuttall Encyclopædia
- name in native language
- Peter Guthrie Tait
- student
- Alexander Macfarlane
- writing language
- English language
- maintained by WikiProject
- WikiProject Mathematics
- P12749
- Candlemas Islands
via Wikidata · CC0
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Peter Guthrie Tait FRSE (28 April 1831 – 4 July 1901) was a Scottish mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics. He is best known for the mathematical physics textbook Treatise on Natural Philosophy, which he co-wrote with Lord Kelvin, and his early investigations into knot theory.
His work on knot theory contributed to the eventual formation of topology as a mathematical discipline. His name is known in graph theory mainly for Tait's conjecture on cubic graphs. He is also one of the namesakes of the Tait–Kneser theorem on osculating circles.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Peter Guthrie Tait” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.