Douglas Rayner Hartree (March 27, 1897 - February 12, 1958) was an English mathematician and physicist most famous for the development of numerical analysis and its application to atomic physics.
Early life
Born, Cambridge, a great-grandson on Samuel Smiles, his father William was a lecturer in engineering at the University. He attended St John's College, Cambridge but, before graduating, joined a group working on ballistics under A. V. Hill. There he gained considerable skill and an abiding interest in practical calculation and numerical methods, executing most of his own work with pencil and paper.
The Hartree-Fock method
After the end of World War I, Hartree returned to Cambridge and obtained his Ph.D. in 1926. Even at this stage, he was applying his numerical skill to problems in quantum mechanics and developing what came to be known as the Hartree-Fock method, making possible calculations that had previously been seen as intractable.
Manchester years
In 1929, he was appointed professor of applied mathematics at the Victoria University of Manchester. In 1933, he visited Vannevar Bush at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and learned at first hand about his differential analyser. Immediately on his return to Manchester, he set about building his own analyser from Meccano. Seeing the potential for further expoiting his numerical methods using the machine he prevailed on Sir Robert McDougall to fund a more robust machine which was built in collaboration with Metropolitan Vickers.
The first application of the machine reflected Hartree's enthusiasm for railways in calculating timetables for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. The machine was also applied in ballistics and other military calculations.
Later life and work
Hartree moved to theoretical physics in 1937 before returning to Cambridge to take up the post of Plummer professor of mathematical physics in 1946. He did further work in control systems and was involved in the early application of digital computers, advising the US military on the use of ENIAC for calculating ballistics tables.
Hartree's last Ph.D. student at Cambridge, Charlotte Froese Fischer, would become world-famous for the development and implementation of the multi-configuration Hartree-Fock (MCHF ) approach to atomic structure calculations and for her theoretical prediction concerning the existence of the negative calcium ion.
He died of heart failure in Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge.
Honours
Bibliography