George Gabriel Stokes (13.08.1819-1.02.1903) was an English physicist and mathematician and a Fellow of the Royal Society (1851). He was Secretary in 1854-85 and president in 1885-90. He was born in Skreen (Ireland). He graduated from the University of Cambridge (1841), and from 1849 was professor there.
His work was in the fields of hydrodynamics, optics, spectroscopy and mathematical physics. He developed (1845) the theory of the viscosity of liquids and the mathematical theory of the motion of a viscous fluid (the Navier — Stokes equation). In 1851 he derived the formula that gives the drag force acting on a solid sphere moving slowly and uniformly forward in an unbounded viscous liquid (Stokes's law), thereby laying the foundations of scientific hydrodynamics. In optics he studied the aberration of light, Newton's rings, the interference and polarisation of light, spectra and luminescence. In 1845—46 he built a theory of aberration, starting from the hypothesis that the Earth, as it moves, completely drags the ether with it. In 1852 he established that the wavelength of photoluminescence is longer than that of the exciting light (Stokes's rule). He studied variations of gravity. He gave the first theoretical idea of the origin of X-rays.
A member of the Paris Academy of Sciences. Copley Medals (1851, 1903), B. Rumford Medal (1852).