[2][3][4] Love also contributed to the theory of tidal locking and introduced the parameters known as Love numbers, used in problems related to Earth tides, the tidal deformation of the solid Earth due to the gravitational attraction of the Moon and Sun.

He was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School and in 1881 won a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, where he was at first undecided whether to study classics or mathematics.

His successful progress (he was placed Second Wrangler)[5] vindicated his choice of mathematics, and in 1886 he was elected Fellow of the college.

In 1899 he was appointed Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Oxford, a position which he retained until his death in 1940.

[6] He was the author of several articles in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, including Elasticity[7] and Infinitesimal Calculus.