The Whittaker cardinal function was discovered by E. T. Whittaker [1], who wanted to know whether there exists in the class of all functions which take on the same values at the set of points A = ¡/czz}¡j°-_»,h > 0, "a function of royal blood whose distinguished properties set it apart from its bourgeois brethren". This function then played a fundamental role in the development of the theory of central difference processes, a theory which was also originated by E. T. Whittaker [1]. Somewhat later J. M. Whittaker and his co-workers [2], [3]