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Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge , he finished second in the university in the Mathematical Tripos of 1898 . He taught at Cambridge, but went to Princeton University in 1904 as a professor of applied mathematics. He returned to Cambridge in 1910 . He made important contributions in many areas of physics, including Quantum Theory , the theory of Radiation , and Stellar Evolution . His analysis of rotating bodies led him to conclude that Laplace 's theory that the solar system formed from a single cloud of gas was incorrect, proposing instead that the planets condensed from material drawn out of the sun by a hypothetical catastrophic near-collision with a passing star. This theory is not accepted today. Jeans, along with Arthur Eddington , is a founder of British excellence in cosmology, a fact which persists down to the present day. Jeans was the first to propose a Steady State Cosmology based on a hypothesized continuous creation of matter in the universe. This theory was discarded when the 1965 discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background was widely interpreted as the telltale signature of the Big Bang . His scientific reputation is grounded in the monographs ''The Dynamical Theory of Gases'' (1904), ''Theoretical Mechanics'' (1906), and ''Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism'' (1908). After retiring in 1929 , he wrote a number of books for the lay public, including ''The Stars in Their Courses'' (1931), ''The Universe Around Us,'' ''Through Space and Time'' (1934), ''The New Background of Science'' (1933), and ''The Mysterious Universe.'' These books made Jeans fairly well known as an expositor of the revolutionary scientific discoveries of his day, especially in Relativity and Cosmology . He married twice, first the American Poet Charlotte Mitchell in 1907, then the Austria n Organ ist and Harpsichord ist Suzanne Hock (better known as Susi Jeans ) in 1935. QUOTES "The stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter...we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter." "Life exists in the universe only because the carbon atom possesses certain exceptional properties." (''The Mysterious Universe''). Regarding reverse time travel: "One must stand stiller than still." (''Through Space and Time''). AWARDS AND HONOURS
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