Fritz Ursell

Fritz Joseph Ursell FRS^[4] (28 April 1923 – 11 May 2012) was a British mathematician noted for his contributions to fluid mechanics, especially in the area of wave-structure interactions.^[6] He held the Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics at the University of Manchester from 1961 to 1990,^[7] was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1972 and retired in 1990.^[5]

Fritz J. Ursell
Born	(1923-04-28)28 April 1923[1] Düsseldorf, Germany
Died	11 May 2012(2012-05-11) (aged 89)[2][3] Manchester, UK
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Known for	Ursell number Method of Chester–Friedman–Ursell
Awards	Fellow of the Royal Society[4] (1972) Georg Weinblum Lectureship (1985–1986) IMA Gold Medal (1994)
Scientific career
Fields	Applied mathematics
Institutions	University of Manchester University of Cambridge
Doctoral students	J. N. Newman E. O. Tuck David Evans[5]

Education

Ursell came to England as a Jewish^[8] refugee in 1937 from Germany,^[1][9] and was educated at Marlborough College.^[10] From 1941 to 1943 he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with a bachelor degree in mathematics.

Career

At the end of 1943 Ursell joined the Admiralty as a part of a team—headed by George Deacon —whose task was to formulate rules for forecasting waves for the allied landings in Japan. Their findings have become the basis of modern wave-forecasting. Ursell stayed in the Admiralty until 1947. In 1947 he was appointed to a post-doctoral fellowship in applied mathematics at Manchester University without a doctorate. In 1950 he returned to Cambridge as lecturer. There he met G. I. Taylor. In 1957 he spent a year at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, having been invited by Arthur Ippen. In 1961 Ursell moved back to Manchester.^[11]

In 1994 Ursell was awarded the Gold Medal of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications in recognition of his "outstanding contributions to mathematics and its applications over a period of years".^[12]

Scientific work

In 1957 he published together with Clive R. Chester and Bernard Friedman a classic paper that introduced a method to find asymptotic expansions for contour integrals with coalescing saddle points.^[13] The method is now called method of Chester–Friedman–Ursell.

Personal life

Fritz Ursell was married to Katharina Renate Zander in 1959. They had two daughters.^[1] Susie and Ruth, Susie is married and has two children.^[3] Following his death on 11 May, in hospital, Ursell's funeral took place on 15 May 2012 at Manchester Crematorium.^[2]