Heaviside, Oliver

Born at Camden Town, London. Sources differ on his deafness: some say his hearing declined in his early twenties, another says he became deaf at age 8 from scarlet fever. Educated at the Camden House School, St. Pancras. In 1868, worked as a telegraph operator in Denmark, then appointed chief telegraph operator at Newcastle. Quit work in 1874 to devote his time to mathematics and its applications to telegraphy. Developed operational calculus. Specialized in electricity; the Heaviside Layer in the ionosphere is named for him. Was nominated for a Nobel Prize in physics. A crater on the Moon's far side and another one on Mars are named in his honor.