Died 8 March 1988, Canterbury, United Kingdom Books Fact and theory in cosmology Education University of Cambridge (1928–1930), University of Edinburgh (1923–1927) Awards Guggenheim Fellowship for Natural Sciences, US & Canada | ||
George Cunliffe McVittie (born 5 June 1904 in Izmir, died 8 March 1988 in Canterbury) was a British theoretical cosmologist.
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Life
McVittie was born in Smyrna, where his father was a merchant. His mother came from a respected Greek intellectuals family. He was raised bilingual in French and English and studied from 1923 mathematics and physics at the University of Edinburgh among others, E. T. Whittaker and Charles Galton Darwin. In 1928 he received his master's degree, began his PhD studies at Whittaker and then went to Cambridge (Christ's College), where he studied with Arthur Eddington was awarded his doctorate.
From 1930 to 1934 he was Assistant Lecturer at the University of Leeds, 1933-34 Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and 1936-1958 Reader at King's College, University of London. In 1934, McVittie married Mildred Bond Strong.
During World War II he worked in the Meteorological Service, which also led to publications in meteorology.
From 1948 he was a professor at Queen Mary's College, University of London and from 1952 to 1972 professor at the University of Illinois Observatory of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he built a small astronomy department, one of the leading in the country. His administrative skills meant that he became secretary of the American Astronomical Society.
From 1972 to 1988 he held an honorary professorship at the University of Kent in Canterbury, where in 1985 he received an honorary doctorate.
Legacy
In 1943 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and 1933 the Royal Astronomical Society.
The asteroid (2417) McVittie was named after him. The George C. McVittie Elementary School in Drayton Plains, Michigan was named in his honor.
Literature
MAH MacCallum: George Cunliffe McVittie (1904-1988), the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 30, 1989, pp 119–122
Writings
Cosmological Theory, 1937, 2nd Edition, Wiley 1949 General Relativity and Cosmology, Wiley 1956, 2nd edition 1965 Fact and Theory in Cosmology, Macmillan 1961