English mathematician who contributed to the field of mathematical physics.

In 1872 Lamb was elected a fellow and lecturer of Trinity College, Cambridge, and three years later he became professor of mathematics at Adelaide University, Australia. He returned to England in 1885 to become professor of mathematics at Victoria University, Manchester (now the University of Manchester). Lamb wrote the Mathematical Theory of the Motion of Fluids (1878) which was enlarged and transformed into Hydrodynamics (1895); the latter was, for many years, the standard work on hydrodynamics. His many papers, principally on applied mathematics, detailed his researches on wave propagation, electrical induction, earthquake tremors, and the theory of tides and waves.

Lamb made valuable studies of airflow over aircraft surfaces for the Aeronautical Research Committee from 1921 to 1927. He was made a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1884 and was knighted in 1931. His other publications include Infinitesimal Calculus (1897), Dynamical Theory of Sound (1910), Statics (1912), Dynamics (1914), and Higher Mechanics (1920).

Lamb was elected to the Royal Society in 1884, and was president of the London Mathematical Society (1902-1904). He was awarded many honours and was knighted in 1931.