Pierre Young, 12 June 1926 - 4 August 1985

Abstract

Pierre Henry John Young was born on 12 June 1926, of a French mother from Argèles in the western Pyrenees, and an Irish father, employed by Morgan’s Bank. His education started at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris, after the usual period in primary school. His father was determined that he should continue his education in England, and to this end Pierre Young was ‘crammed’ in mathematics to enter for scholarships. He gained a place as a King’s Scholar at Westminster School, although he had scarcely any knowledge of Latin and could speak little English. He moved to England in 1938 to take his place at the school, which for most of the wartime period was evacuated to Herefordshire. His parents and sisters escaped from France to England with some difficulty as hostilities developed. From Westminster School he won an Open Scholarship in Mathematics to Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1946. During this time he worked for brief spells in the French Language Service of the BBC, broadcasting coded messages to the French Resistance. At the end of World War II direction of labour was still in force and Pierre Young was employed for a short period at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, near his home, on the stability and control of aircraft.