George F. Carrier
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Carrier had a special talent for describing complex physical systems mathematically. He would then deduce analytical solutions that predicted the systems' behavior. He applied his talents in many fields, with an emphasis on fluid mechanics, combustion, and tsunamis (destructive ocean waves generated by earthquakes)... http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/03.21/08-carrier.html
Carrier is also known for "Carrier's Rule" [1], a humorous explanation of why divergent asymptotic series often yield good approximations if you take the first few term even when the expansion parameter is of order one, while in case of a convergent series you need many terms to get a good approximation: “Divergent series converge faster than convergent series because they don’t have to converge.”
[edit] References
- ^ J. P. Boyd, The Devil's Invention: Asymptotic, Superasymptotic and Hyperasymptotic Series, Acta Applicandae Mathematicae: An International Survey Journal on Applying Mathematics and Mathematical Applications 56, 1-98 (1999) PDF of preprint
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