Francis Guthrie

Francis Guthrie

Francis Guthrie (b. January 22, 1831 in London, d. October 19, 1899 in Claremont, Cape Town) was a South African mathematician and botanist who first posed the Four Colour Problem in 1852. At the time, Guthrie was a student of Augustus De Morgan at University College London. He studied under John Lindley, Professor of Botany at the University of London. Guthrie obtained his B.A. in 1850, and LL.B. in 1852 with first class honours. While colouring a map of the counties of England, he noticed that at least four colours were required so that no two regions sharing a common border were the same colour. He postulated that four colours would be sufficient to colour any map. This became known as the Four Colour Problem, and remained one of the most famous unsolved problems in topology for more than a century, until it was eventually proven in 1976 using a controversial computer-aided proof which was lengthy and inelegant.

Guthrie arrived in South Africa on 10 April 1861 and was met and entertained by Dr. Dale (later Sir Langham Dale), who was instrumental in the establishing of the University of the Cape of Good Hope in June 1873. Guthrie took up the post of mathematics master at the Graaff-Reinet College. While there he gave a course of acclaimed public lectures on botany in 1862 and thus started a life-long friendship with local resident Harry Bolus. He advised Bolus to take up the study of botany to ease his grief at the loss of his six year old son. When Bolus left for Cape Town a few years later, he persuaded Guthrie to move there as well in 1875. For a while he practised at the Bar and edited a newspaper before becoming professor of mathematics at the South African College, which later became the University of Cape Town. He remained there from 1876 until he retired in 1898, staying on his farm at Raapenberg.

When Bolus undertook to do the family of "Ericaceae" for "Flora Capensis", he enlisted Guthrie's aid and they collaborated until Guthrie's death. Before his death, Guthrie had made an extensive collection of the Cape Peninsula flora, which was eventually housed as the Guthrie Herbarium in the University of Cape Town Botany Department, and used for teaching and reference. Though Guthrie did not live to see the published work, he had the satisfaction of knowing that the greater part of the work on "Erica" had been completed. He is buried in the old cemetery attached to St. Thomas's Church in Rondebosch.

He was described as being warm-hearted, good-humoured, patient, and unpretentious. The scope of his interests was diverse, and ranged from a lecture titled, “The Heat of the Sun in South Africa”, in which he pointed out that it must be possible to transform solar energy into mechanical power, to aeronautics, where he was involved in the development of the first aircraft. Although dubbed the inventor of the first flying machine, no documentation of his work exists.

Some fynbos species from the Bredasdorp area were named after him: "Gladiolous guthriei", "Erica guthriei" and "Homoglossum guthriei", as well as the genus "Guthriea" Bolus. "Cyrtanthus guthrieae" was named after his daughter Louisa Guthrie, who was also a botanist. The new genus "Guthriea" was collected by Harry Bolus from Oudeberg in the Graaff-Reinet district, and also recorded from the Wittebergen in the Barkly East district and Mont-aux-Sources in Natal. To date no other species in this genus has been found.

Guthrie was an early member of the "South African Philosophical Society" (later the [http://www.rssa.uct.ac.za/ "Royal Society of South Africa"] ), an active member of the "Meteorological Commission" and an Examiner of the Cape University.

References

*"Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa" Mary Gunn & LE Codd (AA Balkema 1981)

External links

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/The_four_colour_theorem.html


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Francis Guthrie — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Francis Guthrie Francis Guthrie ( * Londres, 22 de enero 1831 19 de octubre de 1899 , Claremont, Cap) fue un matemático y botánico sudafricano. Fue el primero en enuncia …   Wikipedia Español

  • Francis Guthrie — Francis Guthrie. Francis Guthrie (* 22. Januar 1831 in London; † 19. Oktober 1899 in Claremont, Kapstadt) war ein südafrikanischer Mathematiker und Botaniker. Er war der Bruder des Physikers und Chemikers Frederick Guthrie (1833–1886). Er war von …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Francis Guthrie — (né à Londres le 22  janvier  1831 décédé le 19 octobre  1899 à Claremont, banlieue du Cap) était un mathématicien sud africain et un botaniste. Il fut le premie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Guthrie — may refer to:People;Surname * A. B. Guthrie, Jr. * Allan Guthrie * Arlo Guthrie, American folk singer, son of Woody Guthrie * Bruce Guthrie * Carol Guthrie * Charles Guthrie, Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank, GCB LVO OBE, former Chief of The Defence… …   Wikipedia

  • Guthrie (Familienname) — Guthrie ist ein Familienname. Herkunft und Bedeutung Der Name ist im englischen Sprachraum verbreitet. Bekannte Namensträger A. B. Guthrie Junior (1901–1991), US amerikanischer Journalist und Schriftsteller Arlo Guthrie (* 1947), US… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Guthrie — puede referirse a: Lugares Condado de Guthrie, condado del estado estadounidense de Iowa. Guthrie (Kentucky), ciudad estadounidense. Guthrie (Oklahoma), ciudad estadounidense. Guthrie (Texas), lugar designado por el censo ubicado en el estado… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Guthrie — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Guthrie est un nom qui est partagé par plusieurs personnalités, lieux ou choses: Alfred Bertram Guthrie, (1901 – 1991) écrivain américain, Allan Guthrie,… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Francis Ormond — (November 29 1829 May 5 1889) was a Scottish born, Australian grazier, member of the Parliament of Victoria and philanthropist. He s notable for his philanthropy in the areas of education and religion. He founded the Working Men s College of… …   Wikipedia

  • Francis in the Navy — Données clés Réalisation Arthur Lubin Scénario Devery Freeman David Stern Acteurs principaux Donald O Connor Martha Hyer Sociétés de production United International Pictures …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Francis J. Love — Francis Johnson Love was a Republican [cite web |url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/love.html |title=The Political Graveyard |accessdate=2008 08 09 |author= Lawrence Kestenbaum ] U.S. Congressman from West Virginia; born in Cadiz, Harrison… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”