The Life and Legacy of G. I. Taylor

Abstract

THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF G. I. TAYLOR by George Batchelor, Cambridge University Press, 1996 When students encounter the work of Geoffrey Ingram (G. I.) Taylor in their fluid mechanics courses (Taylor-Couette flows and Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities), they are generally unaware of the extraordinary scope and depth of Taylor's contributions to modern classical physics. Indeed, G. I. Taylor is one of the great applied scientists of the 20th century. He ranks with von Karman, Prandtl, and Burgers as one of the foremost leaders in mechanics. Taylor's numerous contributions include fundamental research in fluid dynamics, turbulence theory, and plasticity. He made discoveries related to shock formations in gases and to the mechanics of explosions, as well as developing basic principles in oceanography, meteorology, and aerodynamics. Contrary to the popular notion that mathematicians and scientists do their most consequential work during their early years, Taylor was in his 70's when he produced results that helped launch the field of electro-hydrodynamics. Many of his results continue to influence the course of research in modern classical physics today. Taylor was active during that extraordinary period in physics when the fields of quantum mechanics and relativity were emerging. Taylor was the first to demonstrate one of the basic results of quantum mechanics: namely, that the diffraction patterns from light shining on a needle do not change with the intensity of the light. However, it became his habit to eschew fashionable research topics such as quantum mechanics and to devote himself to the exploration of more classical mechanics and less popular subjects. Taylor was often instrumental in establishing an area of research, but would drop it and begin something different when the subject became popular. Taylor's approach to research was simple yet elegant, and usually involved a complimentary blend of theory and experiment. He brought originality and insight to problems, as well as a fabulous intuition, which enabled him to construct models that elucidated the important features of a problem. This biography focuses primarily on Taylor's scientific contributions and less so on his personal life. The technical descriptions of Taylor's work are sometimes at the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level. The author does an excellent job of communicating Taylor's work in descriptive, qualitative terms. Mathematical formulas appear rarely and derivations not at all; therefore, most of the text is readable by a general reader. …