Ian Naismith Sneddon

            
             Ian Sneddon was born December 8, 1919 Glasgow, Scotland. Ian's father was Naismith Sneddon, who was from a Scottish family that had immigrated to Arizona with the hopes of finding gold. Ian was raised in a poor but loving and caring home. Sneddon went to the Thornwood Primary School. From the age of 10 he was successful in competing for a place at the new Hyndland Secondary School in Glasgow. At 15 Ian became Dux of the school. James Milroy, Ian's mathematics teacher, persuaded him to stay at the school for one additional year to study mathematics. At 16, in 1936, Ian entered the University of Glasgow. While at the university, Ian was interested in both physics and mathematics. Ian graduated in 1940 with First Class Honours in both mathematics and physics. Ian was awarded a Bryce Fellowship after graduating from Glasgow. This allowed him to continue studying at Trinity College, Cambridge. Sneddon took undergraduate courses at Cambridge leading to the Mathematical Tripos. Before he entered Cambridge it was sure to happen that he would soon end up undertaking war work. Sneddon was assigned with the Ministry of Supply duties as a scientific officer in 1942. This was shortly after he took part two of the Mathematical Tripos. As a scientific officer he was sent to the Cavendish Laboratory. In September 1943 Ian Sneddon married Mary Campbell Macgregor. He had known Mary since his school days. Together Mary and Ian had one daughter and two sons. Sneddon was soon transferred to work at Fort Halstead in Kent. When the war ended Ian was appointed to a research post in the H H Wills Physical Laboratory at Bristol University. At Bristol University he continued to work with N F Mott on nuclear physics. Mott and Sneddon also worked on their wave mechanics book. Their book, Wave Mechanics and its Applications was published in 1948. Their book discussed applications of quantum mechanics instead of studying the theoretical foundations.