Biography:Leslie Colin Woods
Leslie Colin Woods | |
|---|---|
| Born | Leslie Colin Woods 6 December 1922 Reporoa, New Zealand |
| Died | 15 April 2007 Oxford, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Doctoral advisor | Alexander Thom |
| Doctoral students | Jason Reese |
Leslie Colin Woods (6 December 1922 – 15 April 2007) was a New Zealand mathematician.
Early life and education
Woods was born on 6 December 1922 in Reporoa, New Zealand.[1] Woods' father was a fisherman.[2] His surname was originally Woodhead.
His school education was completed in New Zealand, where he attended Seddon Memorial Technical College (where he was Head Boy).[3] In his autobiography Against the Tide: An Autobiographical Account of a Professional Outsider, he gives credit to his school teachers, including Colin Maloy and G J Park, for kindling his interest in science and encouraging him to take up a career in academia.[4]
In 1940 Woods went on to study at Auckland University College, but left to join the Royal New Zealand Air Force in December 1941. After completing his training as a pilot he was posted to the Pacific Area in 1943, serving three tours of duty in 1944 and 1945.[3]
After the war Woods returned to Auckland University College, taking his MSc in 1945 and a BE in 1947. The following year he matriculated at Merton College, Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship; he studied there until 1951, taking a DPhil in 1950, and then, unusually, a first-class BA in Mathematics in 1951.[3]
Academic career
Woods was the Nuffield Research Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Technology at Sydney.[5] He was elected a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford in 1961 where he researched the theory of magnetically-confined hot plasmas. Woods was professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford from 1970 until his retirement in 1990. [6]
Personal life
In 1943, Woods married Gladys Elizabeth (Betty) Bayley; they had five daughters.[2][3]
Woods died on 15 April 2007 in Oxford.[1]
Bibliography
His notable books include:[7]
- The Theory of Subsonic Plane Flow (1961)
- The Thermodynamics of Fluid Systems (1975)
- Principles of Magnetoplasma Dynamics (1987)
- Kinetic Theory of Gases and Magnetoplasmas (1993)
- Thermodynamic Inequalities with Applications to Gases and Magnetoplasmas (1996)
- Against the Tide: An Autobiographical Account of a Professional Outsider (2000)
- Physics of Plasmas (2003)
- Theory of Tokamak Transport: New Aspects for Nuclear Fusion Reactor Design (2006)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 O'Connor, J J; Robertson, E F. "Leslie Woods (1922 - 2007)". University of St Andrews, Scotland. https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Woods/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tee, Garry; Wake, Graeme (7 June 2007). "Obituary: Leslie Woods". https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jun/07/guardianobituaries.obituaries. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Levens, R.G.C., ed (1964). Merton College Register 1900–1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 397.
- ↑ Woods, L. C. (1 January 2000). Against the Tide: An Autobiographical Account of a Professional Outsider. CRC Press. ISBN 9781482268751. https://books.google.com/books?id=gtcgCAAAQBAJ&dq=Cyril+Maloy&pg=PA38. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
- ↑ "Professor Les Woods". 20 May 2007. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1552138/Professor-Les-Woods.html. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
- ↑ Woods, Leslie (2006). Theory of Tokamak Transport. Oxford: Wiley-VCH. ISBN 3-527-40625-5.
- ↑ "Leslie Colin Woods". https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1703757.Leslie_Colin_Woods. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
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