James G. Oldroyd

James Gardner Oldroyd (born 1921 died 22 November 1982"The Times" November 25, 1982 page 26 "Deaths"] ) was British mathematician and noted rheologist.He formulated the Oldroyd-B model to describe the viscoelastic behaviour of non-Newtonian fluids.

Life

Oldroyd was born in 1921 and educated at Bradford Grammar School, and Trinity College, Cambridge. On graduation, during the Second World War, he worked for the Ministry of Supply. After the war he joined the Research Laboratory of Courtaulds. In 1946 he married Marged Katryn Evans.C. Petrie (1983) "Rheologica Acta" vol 22 no 1 pp 1-3 "Obituary"] In 1953 be became professor of mathematics at the University of Wales, Swansea until 1965 and head of the Applied Mathematics department from 1957. In 1965 he moved to Liverpool University, becoming head of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics in 1973 until his death."The Times" December 7, 1982 page 14, "Professor J. G. Oldroyd"] He died 22 November 1982, and was survived by his wife Katryn and three sons.

Work

In 1950 he published a paper "On the Formulation of Rheological Equations of State"J. G. Oldroyd (1950)"Proceedings of the Royal Society of London". Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Volume 200, Issue 1063, pp. 523-541] which has been described as "probably the most important single paper in theoretical rheology"A. B. Metzner (1981) "Bulletin of the British Society of Rheology" Volume 24, number 1] as it established the basic requirements for mathematical models of rheology. For this and other major papers he received international recognition, including the Gold Medal of the British Society of Rheology, and a tribute issue of its Bulletin on his sixtieth birthday. ["Bulletin of the British Societyof Rheology" (1981) Volume 24, number 2]

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