Life and Scientific Work of Peter Guthrie Tait - School of Mathematics ...

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
MEMOIR—PETER GUTHRIE TAIT
Early life in Edinburgh, 1-7; life in Cambridge, 8-1 1; life in Belfast, iz-15;
later life in
Edinburgh, 16-52 ; Tait as lecturer, 17-22 ; contributions to Chambers' Encyclopaedia, 23 ; sketch
of literary work, 23-24; the physics of golf, 25-28 ; Royal Society of Edinburgh, 28-30; Kelvin's
visits to Edinburgh, 31-32 ; favourite authors, 33 ; social meetings, 33-34; Gifford Lectures, 35 ;
views on religion and politics, 35-37 ; the South African War, 37 ; retirement and last illness,
39-41; obituary notices, 42-46; colleagues in Senatus, 46-47; portraits, 47-50;
Tait Prize
at Peterhouse, 50; Tait Memorial, 50-51; Sir John Jackson and Sir James Dewar, 51;
Tait at St Andrews (contriliuted by J. L. Low), 52-63; "The Morning Round,'' 55;
phosphorescent golf balls, 57; theory of the golf ball flight, 59-60; "The Bulger," 61-62;
Freddie and his Father, 63.
CHAPTER n
EXPERIMENTAL WORK
pp. 1-63
Visit to Edinburgh in 1859, 65 ; enthusiasm over Thomson's galvanometers and electro-
meters, 67-68; Vortex rings, 68-69; Sir David Brewster, 69-70; Physical Laboratory, 70-71;
W. Robertson Smith, 71-72; Robert Louis Stevenson, 72-74; James Lindsay, 74; Fox Talbot,
76; Thermoelectricity, 77-80; Crooke's Radiometer, 81-82; the "Challenger" thermo-
meters, 82-85; expansion of laboratory, 86-87; hygrometry
on Ben Nevis, 87-88; impact,
88-90; fog horns, 91; rotatory polariscope, 91-92; diathermancy of water vapour, 92-93;
rhyming correspondence with Maxwell, 93-95 ; general estimate, 95-97.
CHAPTER HI
MATHEMATICAL WORK
pp. 64-97
Brachistochrones, 99-100; Maxwell writes on spherical harmonics, 100-102; golf-raalch
problem, 102-104; Maxwell writes on vortex rings, 106; Knots, 106-109; Mirage, 109;
kinetic theory of gases, 109-113; Maxwell writes on viscosity, quaternions, entropy, the
Second Law, etc., 114-116; golf-ball trajectory, 116-117; Josephus' problem, 118.
pp. 98-118