an article on Whittaker's work on numerical analysis by Alexander Aitken, his work on Harmonic functions was covered in an article by Temple, John Lighton Synge wrote about his contributions to the theory of relativity, and James Robert McConnell wrote about Whittaker's philosophy. Among others, Whittaker coined the terms cardinal function and Mathieu function. The School of Mathematics of the University of Edinburgh holds the annual Whittaker Colloquium in his honour. Funded by a donation from his family in 1958, the Edinburgh Mathematical Society promotes an outstanding young Scottish mathematician once every four years with the Sir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize, also given in his honour. Namesakes and notable research Whittaker is the eponym of the Whittaker function or Whittaker integral, in the theory of confluent hypergeometric functions. This makes him also the eponym of the Whittaker model in the local theory of automorphic representations. He published also on algebraic functions, though they were typically limited to special cases. Whittaker had a lifelong interest in automorphic functions and he published three papers on the topic throughout his career. Among other contributions, he found the general expression for the Bessel functions as integrals involving Legendre functions. Whittaker also made contributions to the theory of partial differential equations, harmonic functions and other special functions of mathematical physics, including finding a general solution to Laplace's equation that became a standard part of potential theory. Whittaker developed a general solution of the Laplace equation in three dimensions and the solution of the wave equation. Notable works Whittaker wrote three scientific treatises which were highly influential, A Course of Modern Analysis, Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies, and The Calculus of Observations. In 1956, Gerald James Whitrow stated that two of them not only were required reading for British mathematicians, but were regarded as fundamental components of their personal libraries. Despite the success of these books and his other researchers and their influence in mathematics and physics, the second edition of Whittaker's A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity has been called his "magnum opus". In reference to the title's popularity, William Hunter McCrea predicted that future readers would have a hard time acknowledging it was the result of just "a few years at both ends of a career of the highest distinction in other pursuits." Whittaker also wrote The theory of optical instruments during his time as Royal Astronomer of Ireland