Person

Cherry, Thomas Macfarland (1898 - 1966)

FAA FRS

Born
21 May 1898
Glen Iris, Victoria, Australia
Died
21 November 1966
Kew, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Mathematician

Summary

Sir Thomas M. Cherry was a mathematician held in high regard for his research in the mathematics of air-flow in trans-sonic flight and global differential equation theory. He was influential in the teaching of mathematics in Victoria, both at the University of Melbourne where he was Professor for over 30 years, and in revising the secondary school syllabus. For the University he supervised the installation and operations of the CSIRAC computer from 1956. He was also Chairman of he Academic Planning Board of La Trobe University.

Cherry took a leading role in several mathematics societies, serving terms as President of the Australian Mathematical Society and the Mathematics Association of Victoria. He was a founding member of the Australian Academy of Science and also served a term as President.

The T. M. Cherry Prize named in his honour, has been awarded since 1969 for the best student paper presented at the conference of the Applied Mathematics Division (later ANZIAM) of the Australian Mathematical Society.

Details

Chronology

1918
Military service - First World War. Australian Flying Corps
1918
Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA(Hons)), University of Melbourne
1922
Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Cambridge
1923 - 1928
Career position - Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge
1924
Education - Doctor of Philosphy (PhD), University of Cambridge
1925 - 1928
Career position - Fellow, Trinity College, University of Cambridge
1929 - 1934
Career position - President, Mathematics Association of Victoria
1929 - 1952
Career position - Chairman, University of Melbourne Schools Board
1929 - 1952
Career position - Professor of Mathematics, pure and mixed, University of Melbourne
1946 - 1948
Career position - President, Mathematics Association of Victoria
1950
Award - Doctor of Science (ScD), University of Cambridge
1951
Award - Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal, Australian National Research Council
1952 - 1963
Career position - Professor of Applied Mathematics, University of Melbourne
1953 - 1966
Award - Petitioner for the Academy, Founding Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
1954 - 1955
Career position - Member of Council, Australian Academy of Science
1954 - 1966
Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)
1956 - 1958
Career position - Foundation President, Australian Mathematical Society
1956 - 1959
Career position - Secretary, Australian Academy of Science
1958
Career position - President, Section A, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science
1961 - 1963
Career position - Foundation President, Victorian Computer Society
1961 - 1964
Career position - President, Australian Academy of Science
1965
Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) - In recognition of service to science

Related Corporate Bodies

Related People

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Thomas Macfarland Cherry - Records, 1930 - 1969, MS 059; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

The University of Melbourne Archives

  • Thomas Macfarland Cherry - Records, 1920 - 1963; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

Book Sections

  • Cross, J. J., 'Cherry, Sir Thomas MacFarland (1898-1966), professor of mathematics' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 13: 1940 - 1980 A-De, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1993), pp. 410-412. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130459b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

  • Bullen, K. E., 'Thomas MacFarland Cherry', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 1 (2) (1967), 97-107. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9670120097. Details
  • Bullen, Keith Edward and Temple, George Frederick James, 'Thomas MacFarland Cherry, 1898 - 1966', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 14 (1968), 117-38. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1968.0006. Details
  • Cherry, T. M., 'Anthony George Maldon Michell 1870-1959', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 8 (1962), 91-103. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1962.0007. Details
  • Cohen, Graeme, 'The appointment of the first four professors of mathematics in the University of Melbourne', Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society, 33 (1) (2006), 14-21. Details
  • Grimshaw, R., 'An Analysis of the Impact of T.M. Cherry's Work on Asymptotic Expanisons', Journal of Australian Mathematical Society, Series B, 30 (1988), 378-388. Details
  • Love, E. R., 'Obituary: Thomas MacFarland Cherry, 1898-1966', Australian Journal of Science, 31 (11) (1969), 392-395. Details
  • Love, E. R., 'Thomas MacFarland Cherry', Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society, 9 (1/2) (1969), 1-24. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

Digital resources

Title
Thomas Macfarland Cherry
Type
Image

Details

Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn

EOAS ID: biogs/P000307b.htm

Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
What do we mean by this?

Published by Swinburne University of Technology.
This Edition: 2024 November (Ballambar - Gariwerd calendar - early summer - season of butterflies)
Reference: http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/calendars/gariwerd.shtml#ballambar
For earlier editions see the Internet Archive at: https://web.archive.org/web/*/www.eoas.info

The Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation uses the Online Heritage Resource Manager (OHRM), a relational data curation and web publication system developed by the eScholarship Research Centre and its predecessors at the University of Melbourne 1999-2020. The OHRM has been maintained by Gavan McCarthy since 2020.

Cite this page: https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000307b.htm

"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260