Talk:Sydney Chapman (mathematician)

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Career of Dr. Chapman
This article is quite oddly designated, because Sydney Chapman was primarily a mathematician, and then there were other secondary fields of study that he moved into later on in his career. His work in mathematical random processes was so important that the pivotal equations in the field, the Chapman-Kolmogorov equations are named for him and for the Russian mathematician Andrey Kolmogorov, who worked them out independently.

Also, there was no mention that one of his secondary fields of study was in atmospheric physics, and not in geophysics, which most people think of to include things like the study of earthquakes, volcanos, plate tectonics, and other things that happen underground.


 * I definitely agree that Chapman was not an astronomer. I'd always though of him as a big name in the history of solar-terrestrial physics (which falls under the broader category of geophysics) - I've changed the tag line, but feel free to come up with something better. Djr32 (talk) 21:50, 4 October 2008 (UTC)


 * The connection between solar-terrestrial physics and geophysics is a tenuous one at best. The magnetosphere and the ionosphere do not have anything to do with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, plate tectonics, etc.98.81.11.27 (talk) 05:28, 5 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Sydney Chapman was not an astronomer, not a meteorologist, and not a geophysicist. He was primarily a MATHEMATICIAN in the field of stochastic processes. His work in studying the MAGNETOSPHERE of the earth (auroras, etc.) came from a secondary interest that he became engaged in during the decades after his RETIREMENT as a researcher and teacher in mathematics. So many people have little understanding that someone can undertake a new field of interest after his retirement.98.81.11.27 (talk) 05:22, 5 July 2012 (UTC)


 * He had worked on the magnetosphere for many years before his retirement, and had in fact written the standard text book on geomagnetism with J. Bartels in 1940. Stuff about the magnetosphere is definitely part of geophysics (see e.g. wiki article Geophysics: "the physics of the Earth and its environment in space") and his was the dominant voice in geomagnetism for much of the 20th century. I'll put the book ref in the main article. Aarghdvaark (talk) 20:50, 5 July 2012 (UTC)


 * We have too many foreigners who try to write English with no understanding of singular and plural - hence they mess up. "Geophysicist" is singular, but "geophysicists" is plural.98.81.11.27 (talk) 05:22, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

During the time of Chapman, there was one and only one University of Alaska, and it was the one located in and around Fairbanks. University of Alaska is all you need to say. The additional campuses in Anchorage, Juneau, Valdez, etc., etc., are newer creations, and Chapman died in 1970. So many people have such a hard time understanding that at one time (for example), the Univ. of California had one campus - the one in Berkeley, and then a Southern division was established in Los Angeles. About 70 years ago, and earlier, the "Univ. of California" meant the one in Berkeley, and then nobody said the "Univ. of California at Berkeley". The third campus came into being when a state college in Santa Barbara was "promoted" to the status of the "Univ. of California at Santa Barbara". Then sometime the "Univ. of California at San Francisco" was separated, administratively, from the one in Berkeley, but the one in San Francisco is almost exclusively a graduate school in the healt arts and sciences.98.81.11.27 (talk) 05:22, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

Article should be kept in British English
Hi 98.81.11.27. You are changing the grammar in this article from British English to US English. Basically articles should be kept in their original English variant and made consistent in that variant, otherwise edit wars tend to break out. There is a wiki guideline on this which explains things, see Manual of Style. Cheers Aarghdvaark (talk) 20:24, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

I've also reordered this page as earlier posts should come first. Aarghdvaark (talk) 20:29, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

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wtf where is Enskog?
in whole article no any reference to main result of Chapman's life. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.24.239.232 (talk) 15:47, May 12, 2019 (UTC)

His greatest achievement
His greatest achievement is obvious and boldly mentioned: The "Chapman-Kolmogorov Equation" in stochastic processes.75.167.103.151 (talk) 04:40, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

The University of Colorado
How could one mention Chapman's primary institutions w/o including the University of Colorado? Also then, there is the secondary one of the University of Alaska, where Chapman studied the aurora borealis. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.167.103.151 (talk) 04:45, 6 April 2020 (UTC)