A. G. Greenhill

Sir Alfred George Greenhill, (November 29, 1847 in London - February 10, 1927 in London), was a British mathematician. George Greenhill was educated at Christ's Hospital School, and from there he enrolled at St. John's College in Cambridge in 1866. In 1876, Greenhill was appointed professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Academy (RMA) in Woolwich, London, UK. He occupied this chair until his retirement in 1908. His 1892 textbook on the use of elliptic functions has recognized superiority. He was one of the world's leading experts in the application of elliptic integrals in electromagnetic field theory. He was an ICM plenary rapporteur in 1904 in Heidelberg and an invited ICM rapporteur in 1908 in Rome, in 1920 in Strasbourg and in 1924 in Toronto. In 1879, Greenhill developed a rule of thumb to calculate the optimal spin speed for lead bullets. This shortcut uses the length of the bullet without requiring weight or nose shape.