Abstract
GEORGE GBEEN, author of the famous ‘Essay on the Application of Mathematical Analysis to the Theories of Electricity and Magnetism’, in which appeared for the first time what is now known as Green's theorem, died at Nottingham on May 31, 1841. The circumstances in which a miller was able to engage in mathematical research of fundamental importance have always puzzled the scientific world. New light has been thrown on the problem by Mr. H. G. Green, who has been investigating the matter for several years. In a lecture delivered at University College, Nottingham, to commemorate the centenary, he showed that at least one resident in the locality was well acquainted with the works of the great French mathematicians Laplace and Lagrange, and that the library of the Bromley House Society, of which Green was a member, had no difficulty, even in time of war, in obtaining copies of their researches. Among the members of this Society were several men of high learning and culture, who subscribed for the publication of Green's Essay in 1828. A full account of the investigations will be published in Osiris, the journal of the history of science, in due course.
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George Green Centenary. Nature 148, 48 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148048a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148048a0