Edward Arthur Milne

Edward Arthur Milne (February 14 1896 – September 21 1950) was a British mathematician and astrophysicist.

Milne was born in Hull, Yorks, England. He was a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1919–1925, being assistant director of the solar physics observatory, 1920–1924, mathematical lecturer at Trinity, 1924–1925, and university lecturer in astrophysics, 1922–1925. He was Beyer professor of applied mathematics, Victoria University of Manchester, 1924–1928, before his appointment to the Rouse Ball chair of mathematics and to a fellowship at Wadham College, Oxford, in 1928. Milne's earlier work was in mathematical astrophysics. From 1932 he also worked on the problem of the "expanding universe" and in Relativity, Gravitation, and World-Structure (1935), proposed an alternative to Albert Einstein's general relativity theory. His later work, concerned with the interior structure of stars, aroused controversy. Milne was president of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1943–1945.

He died in Dublin, Ireland.

Honours

Awards

• Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1935)
• Royal Society's Royal Medal (1941)
• Bruce Medal (1945)

Named after him

• Milne crater on the Moon