Professor David George Crighton (15 November 1942, Llandudno, Wales - 12 April 2000, Cambridge) was a British mathematician and physicist.

Life

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Crighton was born in Llandudno. His mother, Violet Grace Garrison, had been sent because of the bombing of London during World War II. He didn't become interested in mathematics until his last two years at Watford Grammar School. He entered St John's College, Cambridge in 1961 and started lecturing at Woolwich Polytechnic (today University of Greenwich) in 1964, having completed only his bachelor's degree.

A few years later he met John Ffowcs Williams and started to work for him at Imperial College London, while simultaneously studying for his doctorate (rewarded in 1969) at the same place. In 1974, he was appointed as a Research Fellow in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. However, he never took up this post, but instead accepted the chair in Applied Mathematics at the University of Leeds, which he held until 1986. He then returned to Cambridge as professor of Applied Mathematics in succession to George Batchelor. Later he became a well-loved Master of Jesus College (1997-2000), and was head of the Applied Mathematics department (DAMTP) in Cambridge between 1991 and 2000.

Away from his mathematical work, Crighton was a devotee of the music of Richard Wagner, as well as music for the piano.

Work

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In his first paper, Crighton studied the sound wave associated with turbulent flow over a discontinuous surface formed by two semi-infinite flexible planes.

Sources and further reading

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1942 births | 2000 deaths | Academics of Imperial College London | Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge | Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge