Rutherford Aris - Early Life

Early Life

Aris was born in Bournemouth, England, to Algernon Aris and Janet Elford. From a young age, Aris was interested in chemistry. Aris's father owned a photo-finishing works, where the young Aris would experiment with chemicals and reactions. He attended primary school (kindergarten) at Canford School in Dorset, England. Aris then attended preparatory school at Wimborne Grammar School, now called Queen Elizabeth's School, where Aris learned Latin, a skill that would be useful to him later in life. He was also encouraged to continue pursuing his interest in chemistry. The preparatory school prepared him for the Common Entrance and Scholarship Exams, which he took, and because most schools available to him were boarding schools, and he was unable to attend a boarding school, he finally entered Canford School for secondary school in 1943, when he was 14. His mathematics teacher, H. E. Piggott, had a particular influence on Aris due to "the liveliness, enthusiasm, and care that he brought to his teaching", which "were unparalleled in my experience". Piggot spent substantial time on pure and applied mathematical papers, an experience that Aris described as "extraordinary". Aris dedicated his book Discrete Dynamic Programming to Piggot 15 years later.

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