Peter Guthrie Tait

thumb|Peter Guthrie Tait Peter Guthrie Tait (28 April 1831 – 4 July 1901) was a Scottish mathematical physicist, best known for the seminal energy physics textbook Treatise on Natural Philosophy, which he co-wrote with Kelvin, and his early investigations into knot theory, which contributed to the eventual formation of topology as a mathematical discipline. Quotes Oh, that's nothing – I could coach a coal scuttle to be Senior Wrangler. when complimented about coaching his one pupil scoring higher than his rival's pupils at Peterhouse Tripos, as quoted by Cargill Gilston Knott Life and scientific work of Peter Guthrie Tait Cambridge University Press 1911 http://books.google.com/books?id=PSU9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA11 11 [Examiners] spend their lives in discovering which pages of a text-book a man ought to read and which will not be likely to 'pay'. in an address to the University of Edinburgh graduates, as quoted by Cargill Gilston Knott Life and scientific work of Peter Guthrie Tait Cambridge University Press 1911 11 The next grand extensions of mathematical physics will, in all likelihood, be furnished by quaternions. in Note on a Quaternion Transformation , Communication read on Monday, 6th April, 1863, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1866), p. 117. External links Category:Mathematicians from Scotland Category:Physicists from Scotland Category:Episcopalians Category:1831 births Category:1901 deaths Category:University of Cambridge alumni Category:University of Cambridge faculty Category:University of Edinburgh alumni Category:University of Edinburgh faculty