Sir George Stokes (1819-1903) was a famous mathematician, born in
Ireland, who studied at
Pembroke College,
Cambridge. He is remembered for his sizeable contribution to mathematical physics, in particular to fluid mechanics (the Navier-Stokes equations) and to vector calculus (
Stokes' Theorem).
Stokes, like most
mathematicians, was a man of few words, to which the following
anecdote testifies. At an important dinner he was sat next to a young research assistant, who said to him "I bet I can make you say more than three words this evening".
His reply was: "you lose".