Died: 12 April 1944 in Adelaide, Australia

John Raymond Wilton was educated at Adelaide University where he was awarded a B.Sc. in 1903. He then went to Cambridge University in England and he was fifth wrangler in the mathematical sciences tripos of 1907, then took part of the natural sciences tripos in 1908. He was an assistant lecturer in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, for the year 1908-09, then Lecturer in mathematics at the University of Sheffield from 1909 to 1919.

Papers Wilton published during this period include: On plane waves of sound (1913); On the highest wave in deep water (1913); On deep water waves (1914); Figures of equilibrium of rotating fluid under the restriction that the figure is to be a surface of revolution (1914); On the potential and force function of an electrified spherical bowl (1914-15); On ripples (1915); On the solution of certain problems of two-dimensional physics (1915); A pseudo-sphere whose equation is expressible in terms of elliptic functions (1915); and A formula in zonal harmonics (1916-17).

Article by: J J O,Connor and E F Robertson

November 2007