John womersley: Applied mathematician and pioneer of modern computing

Abstract

John R. Womersley's career epitomized how numerical and statistical methods came into widespread use from the 1930s, in Britain as in other Western countries. As an applied mathematician and then a manager of mathematicians and statisticians, in war and in peacetime, Womersley and his career reflect the major trends in British applied mathematics, statistics, and automated computation in the middle decades of the 20th century. Womersley made both significant scientific contributions in applied mathematics and managerial contributions to computer innovation. He was also involved at the beginning of electronic computers. © 2014 IEEE.