Sir James Hopwood Jeans (September 11, 1877 in Ormskirk – September 16, 1946 in Dorking) was a British physicist, astronomer, and mathematician. September 11 is the 254th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (255th in leap years). ... 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Map sources for Ormskirk at grid reference SD415085 Ormskirk is a small market town in England, with a population of approximately 23,500 (2005 est. ... September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years). ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Dorking is a market town nestling under the North Downs approximately 25 miles south of London, in Surrey, England. ... Physicists working in a government lab A physicist is a scientist who is a practitioner of physics. ... An astronomer or astrophysicist is a scientist whose area of research is astronomy or astrophysics. ... Leonhard Euler is considered by many people to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is mathematics. ...

Educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood and Trinity College, Cambridge, he finished second in the university in the Mathematical Tripos of 1898. He taught at Cambridge, but went to Princeton University in 1904 as a professor of applied mathematics. He returned to Cambridge in 1910. See also Merchant Taylors School, Crosby and Merchant Taylors Girls School. ... Northwood is a suburb of London in the London Borough of Hillingdon. ... Full name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Motto Virtus vera nobilitas Virtue is true Nobility Named after The Holy Trinity Previous names Kings Hall and Michaelhouse (until merged in 1546) Established 1546 Sister College(s) Christ Church Master The Lord Rees of Ludlow Location Trinity Street... The University of Cambridge, England, divides the different kinds of honours bachelors degree by Tripos, a word which has an obscure etymology, but which may be traced to the three-legged stool candidates once used to sit on when taking oral examinations. ... 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Princeton University is a coeducational private university located on an extensive campus mostly in the Borough of Princeton and partly in the Princeton Township in New Jersey, United States. ... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ...

He made important contributions in many areas of physics, including quantum theory, the theory of radiation, and stellar evolution. His analysis of rotating bodies led him to conclude that Laplace's theory that the solar system formed from a single cloud of gas was incorrect, proposing instead that the planets condensed from material drawn out of the sun by a hypothetical catastrophic near-collision with a passing star. This theory is not accepted today. Fig. ... Radiation in physics is a process of emission of energy or particles. ... In astronomy, stellar evolution is the sequence of changes that a star undergoes during its lifetime; the hundreds of thousands, millions or billions of years during which it emits light and heat. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Jeans, along with Arthur Eddington, is a founder of British excellence in cosmology, a fact which persists down to the present day. Jeans was the first to propose a steady state cosmology based on a hypothesized continuous creation of matter in the universe. This theory was discarded when the 1965 discovery of the cosmic microwave background was widely interpreted as the telltale signature of the Big Bang. One of Sir Arthur Stanley Eddingtons papers announced Einsteins theory of general relativity to the English-speaking world. ... In cosmology, the steady state theory (also known as the Infinite Universe Theory or continuous creation) is a model developed in 1948 by Fred Hoyle, Thomas Gold, Hermann Bondi and others as an alternative to the Big Bang theory (known, usually, as the standard cosmological model). ... WMAP image of the CMB anisotropy,Cosmic microwave background radiation(June 2003) The cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) is a form of electromagnetic radiation that fills the whole of the universe. ... According to the Big Bang theory, the universe emerged from an extremely dense and hot state (bottom). ...

His scientific reputation is grounded in the monographs The Dynamical Theory of Gases (1904), Theoretical Mechanics (1906), and Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism (1908). After retiring in 1929, he wrote a number of books for the lay public, including The Stars in Their Courses (1931), The Universe Around Us, Through Space and Time (1934), The New Background of Science (1933), and The Mysterious Universe. These books made Jeans fairly well known as an expositor of the revolutionary scientific discoveries of his day, especially in relativity and physical cosmology. 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... In physics, the term relativity is used in several, related contexts: Galileo first developed the principle of relativity, which is the postulate that the laws of physics are the same for all observers. ... Cosmology, as a branch of astrophysics, is the study of the large-scale structure of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. ...

He married twice, first the American poet Charlotte Mitchell in 1907, then the Austrian organist and harpsichordist Suzanne Hock (better known as Susi Jeans) in 1935. A poet is some one who writes poetry. ... Organ in Katharinenkirche, Frankfurt am Main, Germany Modern style pipe organ at the concert hall of Aletheia University in Matou, Taiwan The organ is a keyboard instrument with one or more manuals, and usually a pedalboard. ... Harpsichord in Flemish style; for more info, click the image. ... Susi Jeans Also known as Lady Susi Jeans, born 1911 in Austria, died 1993. ... Susi Jeans Also known as Lady Susi Jeans, born 1911 in Austria, died 1993. ...

At Merchant Taylors' School there is a James Jeans Academic Scholarship for the candidate in the entrance exams who displays outstanding results across the spectrum of subjects but notably in Mathematics and Sciences.

Quotes

"The stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter...we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter."

"Life exists in the universe only because the carbon atom possesses certain exceptional properties." (The Mysterious Universe).

Regarding reverse time travel: "One must stand stiller than still." (Through Space and Time).

Awards and honours

• Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1922.
• He was knighted in 1928.
• Jeans crater on the Moon is named after him, as is Jeans crater on Mars.

Gold Medal awarded to Asaph Hall The Gold Medal is the highest award of the Royal Astronomical Society. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... A statue of an armoured knight of the Middle Ages For the chess piece, see knight (chess). ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jeans is a lunar crater along the southeastern limb of the Moon. ... Bulk composition of the moons mantle and crust estimated, weight percent Oxygen 42. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ...

See also

• Rayleigh-Jeans law
• Jeans mass

In physics, the Rayleigh-Jeans Law, first proposed in the early 20th century, expresses the energy density of blackbody radiation of wavelength λ as where T is the temperature in kelvins, and k is Boltzmanns constant. ... The British physicist Sir James Jeans considered the process of gravitional collapse within a gaseous cloud. ...

External link

• MacTutor (St. Andrews Univ.): More biographical information.