Biography:Harold Neville Vazeille Temperley

Professor Harold Neville Vazeille Temperley (4 March 1915 – 27 March 2017), better known as Neville Temperley, was an applied mathematician who made numerous contributions to the fields of statistical mechanics, graph theory and the physics of liquids and gases. He was awarded the title Doctor of Science as a fellow of King's College Cambridge, before working for the Admiralty on numerical modelling of underwater explosions during World War 2. He continued his work on the physical properties of liquids at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston until 1965.

Professor Neville Temperley was head of the Applied Mathematics Department at Swansea University for 17 years until his retirement in 1982. He received the Rumford Medal from the Royal Society in 1992.

His father, Harold William Vazeille Temperley, was a distinguished British historian. He was the father of Virginia (Wagstaff) Julian, creator of Somerset Cider Brandy, Humphrey of Vignobles Temperley a fine wine producer and former Chairman of Somerset County Council and grandfather of: Alice Temperley, fashion designer of London, William Temperley, Mary Temperley, Matilda Temperley, Will Wagstaff, Edward Temperley editor of magicseaweed.com, Kate Temperley, Jane Wagstaff and Henry Temperley. He had nine great grandchildren.

In 2015, Temperley celebrated his 100th birthday. He died on 27 March 2017 at the age of 102.

Selected publications

• Temperley, HNV; Lieb, EH (Apr 20, 1971). "Relations between the 'Percolation' and 'Colouring' Problem and other Graph-Theoretical Problems Associated with Regular Planar Lattices: Some Exact Results for the 'Percolation' Problem". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences 322 (1549): 251–280. doi:10.1098/rspa.1971.0067. Bibcode: 1971RSPSA.322..251T. 

See also

• Temperley–Lieb algebra
• FKT algorithm

References

• Fair, John D. (1992). Harold Temperley: A Scholar and Romantic in the Public Realm. University of Delaware Press. pp. 108. ISBN 0-87413-413-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=SU5GoH0tV6YC. 

External links

• Recent winners of the Rumford medal at the Royal Society's web site.