Background
Jeffreys was born on 22 April 1891 in Fatfield, Washington, County Durham, England, United Kingdom, the son of Robert Hal Jeffreys, headmaster of Fatfield Church School, and his wife, Elizabeth Mary Sharpe.
(Jeffreys' Theory of Probability, first published in 1939,...)
Jeffreys' Theory of Probability, first published in 1939, was the first attempt to develop a fundamental theory of scientific inference based on Bayesian statistics. His ideas were well ahead of their time and it is only in the past ten years that the subject of Bayes' factors has been significantly developed and extended. Recent work has made Bayesian statistics an essential subject for graduate students and researchers. This seminal book is their starting point.
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(This is a digital reprint of the revised 1976 edition of ...)
This is a digital reprint of the revised 1976 edition of this classic work. It examines seismology, gravity, the strength of the shell, the variation of latitude and the figure of the Moon. The chapter on tidal friction is largely rewritten and what now seem to be the three most reliable estimates of the true secular acceleration of the Moon agree in suggesting that the provisional estimate in the last edition should be considerably increased. The criticism of theories of continental drift, convection and plate tectonics is much expanded. A new appendix pinpoints directions for future geophysical research. The Earth continues to provide a fundamental and comprehensive account of geophysical problems, essential to all scientists concerned with problems of the origin, history and physical constitution of the Earth.
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(This well-known text and reference contains an account of...)
This well-known text and reference contains an account of those parts of mathematics that are most frequently needed in physics. As a working rule, it includes methods which have applications in at least two branches of physics. The authors have aimed at a high standard of rigour and have not accepted the often-quoted opinion that 'any argument is good enough if it is intended to be used by scientists'. At the same time, they have not attempted to achieve greater generality than is required for the physical applications: this often leads to considerable simplification of the mathematics. Particular attention is also paid to the conditions under which theorems hold. Examples of the practical use of the methods developed are given in the text: these are taken from a wide range of physics, including dynamics, hydrodynamics, elasticity, electromagnetism, heat conduction, wave motion and quantum theory. Exercises accompany each chapter.
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(A scientific theory is originally based on a particular s...)
A scientific theory is originally based on a particular set of observations. How can it be extended to apply outside this original range of cases? This question, which is fundamental to natural philosophy, is considered in detail in this book, which was originally published in 1931, and first published as this third edition in 1973. Sir Harold begins with the principle that 'it is possible to learn from experience and to make inferences from beyond the data directly known to sensation'. He goes on to analyse this principle, discuss its status and investigate its logical consequences. The result is a book of importance to anyone interested in the foundations of modern scientific method. His thesis provides a consistent account of how the theories proposed by physicists have been derived from, and are supported by, experimental data.
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Astronomer geophysicist mathematician statistician
Jeffreys was born on 22 April 1891 in Fatfield, Washington, County Durham, England, United Kingdom, the son of Robert Hal Jeffreys, headmaster of Fatfield Church School, and his wife, Elizabeth Mary Sharpe.
He was educated at his father's school then studied at Armstrong College in Newcastle upon Tyne, then part of the University of Durham, and with the University of London External Programme.
He won major prizes at the University of Cambridge, from which he graduated in 1917, in mathematics, astronomy, and geophysics.
Jeffreys became a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge in 1914. At the University of Cambridge he taught mathematics, then geophysics and finally became the Plumian Professor of Astronomy.
The contributions for which Jeffreys is noted cover a wide range of fields.
Much of his interest centered on the solar system and the theory of geophysics, fields in which progress demands the use of evidence and techniques from a variety of other fields, for example, statistical techniques and mathematical methods.
It was characteristic of Jeffreys that when he found it necessary to refer to fields outside of astronomy and geophysics, he usually made important contributions to those fields as well.
All of these works contain much original material inspired by the needs of his work in astronomy and geophysics.
In 1923, Jeffries calculated the surface temperatures of the four large outer planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—to be more than 100° below zero Centigrade.
This was in sharpconflict with the then-prevailing view that these outer planets were red-hot.
His findings were later verified by direct observation and led to a complete revision of theories on the composition and structure of the outer planets. By 1924 Jeffreys had developed a general method of approximating solutions to linear, second-order differential equations, including the Schrödinger equation. Although the Schrödinger equation was developed two years later, Wentzel, Kramers, and Brillouin were apparently unaware of this earlier work, so Jeffreys is often neglected when credit is given for the WKB approximation.
Using observations on the earth's bodily tides, Jeffreys, in 1926, gave the first quantitative estimate of the rigidity of the earth's core and established that most of the core is probably molten.
Since 1940 these tables have been used as the standard in calculating the epicenters and origin times of the world's earthquakes for the International Seismological Summary. From 1939 to 1952 he was established as Director of the International Seismological Summary further known as International Seismological Centre.
(Jeffreys' Theory of Probability, first published in 1939,...)
(This well-known text and reference contains an account of...)
(Mathematics; Isotropic Tensors; Hydrodynamics; Elasticity...)
(A scientific theory is originally based on a particular s...)
(This is a digital reprint of the revised 1976 edition of ...)
Fellow, Royal Society (1925)
Quotes from others about the person
The textbook Probability Theory: The Logic of Science, written by the physicist and probability theorist Edwin T. Jaynes, is dedicated to Jeffreys. The dedication reads, "Dedicated to the memory of Sir Harold Jeffreys, who saw the truth and preserved it. "
He married another mathematician and physicist, Bertha Swirles, in 1940 and together they wrote Methods of Mathematical Physics.
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