奥斯鲍恩·雷诺Osborne Reynolds

奥斯鲍恩·雷诺的父亲也叫Osbourne 雷诺（约1814年生于英格兰萨福克郡德巴赫；1890年去世），是英国圣公会的牧师。然而，他有学术背景，1837年毕业于剑桥，被选为皇后学院的研究员，并先后担任贝尔法斯特学院学校和埃塞克斯郡德德姆学校的校长。事实上，这是一个有教会传统的家庭，雷诺父亲家族的三代人都曾担任德巴赫-with-Boulge的教区长。雷诺的母亲是Jane Bryce（约1815年出生）。她是个寡妇，是Edward Hickman的女儿。他有一个弟弟Edward（1844-1907），后来成为牧师。

雷诺出生于贝尔法斯特，当时他的父亲是那里一所学院学校的校长，但他在戴德姆开始上学，当时他的父亲是埃塞克斯郡那个镇上学校的校长。此后，他接受私人辅导以完成中学教育。然而，中学教育结束后，他并未直接上大学，而是于1861年在爱德华·海斯的工程公司当学徒。雷诺曾写到（实际上是在他1868年申请曼彻斯特讲席的申请书中）他成长过程中父亲对他的影响（例如参见贺拉斯·兰姆的文章[8]）：-

在我的童年时代，我有幸得到父亲的不断指导，他也是一位机械爱好者，在数学及其应用于物理学方面颇有造诣。

雷诺在工程公司获得经验后，在剑桥学习数学，于1867年毕业，在数学荣誉学位考试中获得第七名数学荣誉学位考试一等及格者（Wrangler）（在一等学生名单中排名第七）。作为本科生，雷诺曾与比他高一级的瑞利上过一些相同的课程。如同他父亲之前一样，雷诺被选为皇后学院的奖学金获得者。他再次在一家工程公司任职，这次是伦敦的土木工程师弗瑞兹·约翰劳森，作为执业土木工程师工作了一年。

雷诺于1868年7月22日在利兹与Charlotte Jemima Chadwick（Charles Chadwick的女儿，约1844年出生）结婚。他们有一个儿子，也叫雷诺（1869年9月生于兰开夏郡拉肖尔姆）。雷诺后来于1882年在利兹与Annie Charlotte Wilkinson（约1860年出生）结婚。他们有四个孩子：Henry（1883年出生）、Margaret（1885年出生）、Frank（1887年出生）和Geoffrey（1889年出生）。

1868年，雷诺成为曼彻斯特第一位工程学教授（也是英格兰第二位）。卡尔贡在[1]中写道：-

……曼彻斯特欧文斯学院新设立了一个工程学教授职位，年薪500英镑。雷诺申请了该职位，尽管他年轻且缺乏经验，仍被授予此职。

我们顺带指出，欧文斯学院后来会成为曼彻斯特大学。在申请该职位时，雷诺写道（例如见[8]）：-

从我最早的记忆起，我就对力学以及作为一门科学的力学所依据的物理定律有着不可抗拒的喜爱。

雷诺在欧文斯学院建立了惠特沃思实验室[3]：-

……不仅使它们闻名于世，而且成为其他欧洲研究学院的典范。

他在曼彻斯特担任此讲席直到1905年退休。

他早期的工作是关于磁学和电学的，但很快他就专注于水力学和流体动力学。他还研究了太阳和彗星的电磁性质，并考虑了河流中的潮汐运动。

1873年之后，雷诺主要专注于流体动力学，正是在这一领域，他的贡献具有世界领先的重要性。我们总结这些贡献。他研究了管道中流动从层流变为湍流时的变化。1886年，他提出了润滑理论。三年后，他提出了一个重要的湍流理论模型，该模型已成为研究湍流的标准数学框架。

[2]的作者指出：-

他对固体与流体之间凝结和传热的研究，彻底改变了锅炉与冷凝器的设计；而他在涡轮泵方面的工作，则使涡轮泵得以迅速发展。

雷诺关于流体动力学稳定性的工作发表于1883年和1895年，其论述见[9]。1883年的论文题为An experimental investigation of the circumstances which determine whether the motion of water in parallel channels shall be direct or sinuous and of the law of resistance in parallel channels。以他命名的“雷诺数”（如今这样称呼）用于模拟流体流动，就出现在这项工作中。

雷诺于1877年成为皇家学会的会士，11年后获得了他们的皇家奖章。1884年，格拉斯哥大学授予他荣誉学位。到1900年代初，雷诺的健康开始衰退，他于1905年退休。他不仅身体上恶化，精神上也如此，这在一位还不到60岁的如此杰出的人身上令人痛心。

雷诺的重要性不仅在于他的研究，还在于他在曼彻斯特开设的应用数学课程。奥斯卡·安德尔森在[4]中写道：-

雷诺是一位学识渊博、标准很高的人。当时工程教育对英国大学来说还是新事物，而雷诺对其应有形式有明确的看法。他认为，所有工程专业的学生，无论专攻什么方向，都应有共同的数学、物理，尤其是经典力学基础。……尽管他对教育兴趣浓厚，却并不是一位出色的讲课者。他的课很难跟上，他还常常在彼此很少或毫无关联的题目之间游移。

在[8]中，贺拉斯·兰姆写道：-。贺拉斯·兰姆无论在为人方面，还是作为流体动力学领域的同行，都对雷诺十分了解。

雷诺的性格就像他的著作一样，极具个性。他意识到自己工作的价值，却满足于把它留给科学界成熟的判断。他不喜欢自我宣传，别人若有不恰当的自负，也只会引来他宽容的一笑。对于学生，他在为他们提供做有价值工作的机会以及合作分工方面都极为慷慨。在严肃或个人事务上，他有些矜持，在辩论中偶尔好斗而执拗；但在日常交往中，他是最友善、最亲切的伙伴。

Osborne Reynolds' father was also called Osbourne Reynolds (born in Debach, Suffolk, England, about 1814; died in 1890) and was a priest in the Anglican church. However, he had an academic background having graduated from Cambridge in 1837, being elected to a fellowship at Queens' College, and being headmaster of first Belfast Collegiate School and then Dedham School in Essex. In fact it was a family with a tradition of the Church and three generations of Osborne's father's family had been the rector of Debach-with-Boulge. Osborne Reynolds' mother was Jane Bryce (born about 1815). She was a widow, the daughter of Edward Hickman. He had a younger brother Edward (1844-1907) who became a priest.

Osborne was born in Belfast when his father was Principal of the Collegiate School there, but began his schooling at Dedham when his father was headmaster of the school in that Essex town. After that he received private tutoring to complete his secondary education. He did not go straight to university after his secondary education, however, but rather he took an apprenticeship with the engineering firm of Edward Hayes in 1861. Reynolds wrote (actually in his application for the chair in Manchester in 1868) of his father's influence on him while he was growing up (see for example Lamb's article [8]):-

In my boyhood I had the advantage of the constant guidance of my father, also a lover of mechanics, and a man of no mean attainments in mathematics and its application to physics.

Reynolds, after gaining experience in the engineering firm, studied mathematics at Cambridge, graduating in 1867 as Seventh Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos (ranked seventh in the list of First Class students). As an undergraduate Reynolds had attended some of the same classes as Rayleigh who was one year ahead of him. As his father had before him, Reynolds was elected to a scholarship at Queens' College. He again took up a post with an engineering firm, this time the civil engineers John Lawson of London, spending a year as a practicing civil engineer.

Osborne Reynolds married Charlotte Jemima Chadwick (the daughter of Charles Chadwick, born about 1844) in Leeds on 22 July 1868. They had a son, also named Osborne (born in Rusholme, Lancashire in September 1869). Osborne Reynolds later married Annie Charlotte Wilkinson (born about 1860) in Leeds in 1882. They had four children, Henry (born 1883), Margaret (born 1885), Frank (born 1887), and Geoffrey (born 1889).

In 1868 Reynolds became the first professor of engineering in Manchester (and the second in England). Kargon writes in [1]:-

... a newly created professorship of engineering was advertised at Owens College, Manchester, at £500 per annum. Reynolds applied for the position and, despite his youth and inexperience, was awarded the post.

We should note in passing that Owens College would later become the University of Manchester. In his application for the post Reynolds wrote (see for example [8]):-

From my earliest recollection I have had an irresistible liking for mechanics and the physical laws on which mechanics as a science is based.

Reynolds set up the Whitworth laboratories at Owens College [3]:-

... and not only made them famous throughout the world but a pattern for the other European schools of research.

He held this chair in Manchester until he retired in 1905.

His early work was on magnetism and electricity but he soon concentrated on hydraulics and hydrodynamics. He also worked on electromagnetic properties of the sun and of comets, and considered tidal motions in rivers.

After 1873 Reynolds concentrated mainly on fluid dynamics and it was in this area that his contributions were of world leading importance. We summarise these contributions. He studied the change in a flow along a pipe when it goes from laminar flow to turbulent flow. In 1886 he formulated a theory of lubrication. Three years later he produced an important theoretical model for turbulent flow and it has become the standard mathematical framework used in the study of turbulence.

The author of [2] notes that:-

His studies of condensation and heat transfer between solids and fluids brought radical revision in boiler and condenser design, while his work on turbine pumps permitted their rapid development.

An account of Reynolds' work on hydrodynamic stability published in 1883 and 1895 is looked at in [9]. The 1883 paper is called An experimental investigation of the circumstances which determine whether the motion of water in parallel channels shall be direct or sinuous and of the law of resistance in parallel channels. The 'Reynolds number' (as it is now called) used in modelling fluid flow which is named after him appears in this work.

Reynolds became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1877 and, 11 years later, won their Royal Medal. In 1884 he was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Glasgow. By the beginning of the 1900s Reynolds health began to fail and he retired in 1905. Not only did he deteriorate physically but also mentally, which was sad to see in so brilliant a man who was hardly 60 years old.

Not only is Reynolds important in terms of his research, but he is also important for the applied mathematics course he set up at Manchester. Anderson writes in [4]:-

Reynolds was a scholarly man with high standards. Engineering education was new to English universities at that time, and Reynolds had definite ideas about its proper form. He believed that all engineering students, no matter what their speciality, should have a common background based in mathematics, physics, and particularly the fundamentals of classical mechanics. ... Despite his intense interest in education, he was not a great lecturer. His lectures were difficult to follow, and he frequently wandered among topics with little or no connection.

In [8] Lamb, who knew Reynolds well both as a man and as a fellow worker in fluid dynamics, wrote:-

The character of Reynolds was like his writings, strongly individual. He was conscious of the value of his work, but was content to leave it to the mature judgement of the scientific world. For advertisement he had no taste, and undue pretension on the part of others only elicited a tolerant smile. To his pupils he was most generous in the opportunities for valuable work which he put in their way, and in the share of cooperation. Somewhat reserved in serious or personal matters and occasionally combative and tenacious in debate, he was in the ordinary relations of life the most kindly and genial of companions.