Harold Jeffreys
| Sir Harold Jeffreys | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
22 April 1891 Fatfield |
| Died | 18 March 1989 (aged 97) Cambridge |
| Fields | Mathematics Geophysics |
| Alma mater | Armstrong College |
| Doctoral students |
Herman Bondi Sydney Goldstein Vasant Huzurbazar Philip James Message Andrew Young |
| Notable awards |
Adams Prize (1926) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1937) Fellow of the Royal Society (1925) Murchison Medal (1939) Royal Medal (1948) William Bowie Medal (1952) Guy Medal (Gold, 1962) Vetlesen Prize (1962) Wollaston Medal (1964) |
| Spouse | Bertha Swirles |
Sir Harold Jeffreys, FRS (22 April 1891 – 18 March 1989) was an English mathematician, statistician, geophysicist, and astronomer. His book Theory of Probability, which first appeared in 1939, played an important role in the revival of the Bayesian view of probability.
Jeffreys was born in Fatfield, Washington, County Durham, England, the son of Robert Hal Jeffreys, headmaster of Fatfield Church School, and his wife, Elizabeth Mary Sharpe. He was educated at his father's school then studied at Armstrong College in Newcastle upon Tyne, then part of the University of Durham, and with the University of London External Programme.
Jeffreys became a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge in 1914. At the University of Cambridge he taught mathematics, then geophysics and finally became the Plumian Professor of Astronomy.
He married another mathematician and physicist, Bertha Swirles (1903–1999), in 1940 and together they wrote Methods of Mathematical Physics.
One of his major contributions was on the Bayesian approach to probability (also see Jeffreys prior), as well as the idea that the Earth's planetary core was liquid. He was knighted in 1953.
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