羅伯特·施拉普 FRSE(Robert Schlapp,1899年7月18日—1991年5月31日),為20世紀德裔英國物理學家和數學家。他幾乎整個職業生涯都在愛丁堡大學教授數學和物理。此外,他對數學史的興趣非比尋常。他被親切地稱為羅賓·施拉普。[1]
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施拉普出生於蘇格蘭愛丁堡。是奧托·施拉普和安娜·洛策所有13個孩子中最小的一個。奧托來自德國,曾在喬治沃森男子學校教德語,之後被聘為愛丁堡大學第一位德語教授。羅伯特在喬治沃森男子學校接受教育,並在1917年以首席成績畢業。[2]
在此期間,第一次世界大戰於1914年爆發。那一年施拉普才15歲。對於施拉普和他的家人們來說,這是一個特別困難的時期——由於他們的德國血統。雖然施拉普在愛丁堡大學獎學金競賽拔得頭籌,還取得了喬治·沃森助學金與格拉斯數學助學金,但還是應徵入伍。他被分配到米德爾塞克斯團31營——該營是專門為那些和敵人有「聯繫」的人準備的,並在戰爭中從事繁重的體力勞動。[3]
戰爭結束後,施拉普回到愛丁堡大學繼續學業,並以數學與自然哲學一等榮譽獲得碩士學位。隨後在德拉蒙德數學獎學金的支持下,他在劍橋大學繼續深造,攻讀博士學位。1925年,施拉普因《晶體的X射線反射》這一論文獲得博士學位。[4]他被任命為愛丁堡大學自然哲學學科助理,接着作為查爾斯·達爾文的助手擔任了應用數學講師和數學物理高級講師。
施拉普與1940年與瑪麗·弗勒爾結婚,他們有兩個女兒。
1923年1月,施拉普加入愛丁堡數學學會。他於1942—1943屆期間很榮幸地當選為主席,並在1943—1944屆再次當選。1927年3月14日,經過埃德蒙·惠特克爵士,喬治·達爾文爵士,大衛·吉布和愛德華·科普森的聯名提議,施拉普當選為愛丁堡皇家學會會員。他在理事會任職,並積極參加協會事務。此後,他於1959年至1969年擔任學會負責人,1969年至1972年擔任副主席。1983年,施拉普獲得了由伊麗莎白二世親自頒發的學會兩百周年紀念獎章。他同時還是愛丁堡數學學會的主席。[5]
在他向英國協會提交了一份關於斯塔克效應(達爾文最關心的話題)的報告後,他被邀請至威斯康星大學與范弗萊克在洛克菲勒研究會進行了為期一年的合作。在這裡,他與威廉·彭尼(後來的彭尼勳爵)一起研究兩種離子的順磁性。這項工作產生了兩篇主要論文。施拉普深度參與了第二篇的創作。當范弗萊克在1977年獲得諾貝爾物理學獎時,他仍然對施拉普的工作有深刻的記憶:「1931年……我有兩個博士後……彭尼和……施拉普。他們對稀土和鐵基團的鹽的計算……當……應用於鐵基團時……特別引人注目,構成了現代磁化學的基礎。每次我讀這篇論文(兩篇論文中的第二篇)我印象深刻的是,它包含了現代結晶理論的所有基本成分。」 [6]可惜的是,這篇論文為施拉普在理論數學領域最後一篇產出。
施拉普之後更多地以優秀的教師和組織者而聞名。在戰爭期間,他招收了需要短期數學科目課程的年輕學員,並扮演着如師如父的角色。他的大部分工作都是在幕後進行的。從1946年到1950年,他是《大學日曆》的編輯,這無疑是一項艱苦的工作。馬克思·玻恩退休後,施拉普牽頭編輯和製作了玻恩作品的書目提要。除他以外,還有包括愛因斯坦在內的13位知名人士做出了貢獻。[7]
此外,施拉普對數學史抱有濃厚的興趣。他對皇家學會編撰的艾薩克·牛頓的通信整理作出重要貢獻。通過這項工作,他成為了研究與牛頓通信的科林·坎貝爾的專家。1973年,在進行以「微積分的發明者」為主題的講座後,格拉斯哥大學授予施拉普數學史的吉布森講師。[8]他同樣寫過數學史的論文《蘇格蘭人對數學的貢獻》;該論文從13世紀開始並在19世紀中葉前不久「當蘇格蘭數學的概念開始失去其定義時」結束。他把大部分注意力都放在描述約翰·納皮爾、詹姆斯·格雷戈里(他稱之為「蘇格蘭有史以來最具獨創性的數學家」)、詹姆斯·斯特林和科林·麥克勞林的工作上;不包括約瑟夫·韋德伯恩,威廉·湯姆森(開爾文公爵)或詹姆斯·麥克斯韋上。
施拉普於1969年退休,並於1991年5月31日在英國肯特郡的阿什福德去世。
施拉普在1940年後幾乎沒有發表任何文章[9]:
- 一篇關於小振動的筆記 A note on small vibrations(1942)[10];
- 科林·麥克勞林:傳記筆記 Colin Maclaurin, a Biographical Note (1949);
- 《蘇格蘭人對數學的貢獻》 The Contribution of the Scots to Mathematics [11](1973年)。
Robert Schlapp. MacTutor. [2023-07-11]. (原始內容存檔於2023-07-14). Although he had been placed first in the Edinburgh University Bursary Competition, and awarded a George Watson's Bursary and the Glass Mathematical Bursary, Robin enlisted for military service. He was assigned to the 31st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, which was intended for those with connections to "the enemy", and spent the rest of the war doing heavy manual labour.
Robert Schlapp. MacTutor. [2023-07-11]. (原始內容存檔於2023-07-14). Returning to Edinburgh University after the war ended, Schlapp graduated with an M.A. with First Class Honours in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. Supported by a Drummond Mathematical Scholarship, he then studied at St John's College, Cambridge, for his doctorate which was awarded in 1925 for his thesis The Reflexion of X-rays from Crystals.
EMS teaching. MacTutor. [2023-7-9]. (原始內容存檔於2023-07-14). Others also spoke, and the meeting closed with an expression of thanks by the President, Robin Schlapp, to the principal speaker, Dr John Mackie.
Kemmer, Nicholas. Robert Schlapp M.A.(Edin.), Ph.D.(Cantab.) RSE Obituary. MacTutor. [2023-07-11]. (原始內容存檔於2023-07-14). When Robin returned home he found an important change awaiting him. Following the retirement of Cargill G Knott, a new Chair, the Tait Chair of Natural Philosophy, had been founded to cover the field of Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematics, and its first incumbent was to be Charles Galton Darwin. Darwin needed an assistant, and who better qualified than Robin. A major decision now had to be taken, to go to Yale or to accept the position in Edinburgh. Edinburgh won - "the pull of family ties and the old environment" was too great. Perhaps, this should not have deterred him from going first to Yale. The rest of his career was spent in Edinburgh except for two interludes. The first of these came very soon. Following a report he gave to the British Association on the Stark Effect (a topic close to Darwin's heart), he was invited to spend a year with J H van Vleck at the University of Wisconsin on a Rockefeller Fellowship. Here he worked with William Penney (later Lord Penney) on the paramagnetism of two types of ions. This work resulted in two major papers. Schlapp being the senior author of the second. When van Vleck received his share of the Nobel Prize in 1977 he said "In 1931 ... I had two postdoctoral students ... Penney and ... Schlapp. Their calculations on salts of the rare earth and iron groups ... when ... applied to the iron group ... are particularly striking and form the basis of modern magnetochemistry. Each time I read the paper (the second of the two papers) I am impressed how it contains all the essential ingredients of modem crystalline field theory".
Kemmer, Nicholas. Robert Schlapp M.A.(Edin.), Ph.D.(Cantab.) RSE Obituary. MacTutor. 1991-5-31 [2023-07-14]. (原始內容存檔於2023-07-14). Much of Robin's work for the university was behind the scenes. From 1946 to 1950 he was the editor of the University Calendar "an arduous and thankless task" done without the help of a secretary or a telephone. Then for Born's retirement he felt that a Festschrift should be produced. Thirteen eminent people including Einstein contributed. Robin was alone responsible for the entire editing and for the production of a complete bibliography of Born's work, but there is no mention of this in the published volume.
Kemmer, Nicholas. Robert Schlapp M.A.(Edin.), Ph.D.(Cantab.) RSE Obituary. MacTutor. 1991-5-31 [2023-07-14]. (原始內容存檔於2023-07-14). Robin was deeply interested and knowledgeable about the history of mathematics and made an important contribution to the Royal Society's edition of Isaac Newton's correspondence, a work initiated by Professor H W Turnbull and only completed after his death in 1978. Through this work he became an expert on Colin Campbell of Ardchattan (1644-1726) who corresponded with Isaac Newton. He was honoured by Glasgow as their Gibson Lecturer in the History of Mathematics in 1973 where he chose as his subject 'Inventors of the Calculus'.