Michael James Lighthill
| Sir James Lighthill | |
|---|---|
Michael James Lighthill
|
|
| Born |
23 January 1924 Paris, France |
| Died | 17 July 1998 (aged 74) Sark, Channel Islands |
| Nationality | United Kingdom |
| Fields |
Mathematics, Acoustics |
| Institutions |
Victoria University of Manchester University College London Cambridge University Imperial College London |
| Alma mater | Cambridge University |
| Doctoral students | Gerald B. Whitham |
| Known for |
Lighthill report Lighthill mechanism Aeroacoustics Fluid dynamics |
| Notable awards |
Timoshenko Medal (1963) Royal Medal (1964) Elliott Cresson Medal (1975) Naylor Prize and Lectureship (1977) Otto Laporte Award (1984) Copley Medal (1998) |
Sir Michael James Lighthill, FRS (23 January 1924 – 17 July 1998) was a British applied mathematician, known for his pioneering work in the field of aeroacoustics.
Lighthill was educated at Winchester College, and graduated with a BA from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1943. He specialised in fluid dynamics, and worked at the National Physical Laboratory at Trinity. Between 1946 and 1959 he was Beyer Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Manchester. Lighthill then moved from Manchester to become director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough. There he worked on the development of television and communications satellites, and on the development of manned spacecraft. This latter work was used in the development of the Concorde supersonic airliner.
In 1955, together with G. B. Whitham, Lighthill set out the first comprehensive theory of kinematic waves (an application of the method of characteristics), with a multitude of applications, prime among them fluid flow and traffic flow.
Lighthill's early work included two dimensional aerofoil theory, and supersonic flow around solids of revolution. In addition to the dynamics of gas at high speeds he studied shock and blast waves and introduced the squirmer model. He is credited with founding the subject of aeroacoustics, a subject vital to the reduction of noise in jet engines. Lighthill's eighth power law states that the acoustic power radiated by a jet engine is proportional to the eighth power of the jet speed. He also founded non-linear acoustics, and showed that the same non-linear differential equations could model both flood waves in rivers and traffic flow in highways.
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