Dame Frances Clare Kirwan, (born 21 August 1959) is a British
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
, currently
Savilian Professor of Geometry
The position of Savilian Professor of Geometry was established at the University of Oxford in 1619. It was founded (at the same time as the Savilian Professorship of Astronomy) by Sir Henry Savile, a mathematician and classical scholar who was ...
at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
. Her fields of specialisation are
algebraic and
symplectic geometry.
Education
Kirwan was educated at
Oxford High School, and studied maths as an undergraduate at
Clare College
Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...
in the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
. She took a
D.Phil
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
at Oxford in 1984, with the dissertation title ''The Cohomology of Quotients in
Symplectic and
Algebraic Geometry'', which was supervised by
Michael Atiyah
Sir Michael Francis Atiyah (; 22 April 1929 – 11 January 2019) was a British-Lebanese mathematician specialising in geometry. His contributions include the Atiyah–Singer index theorem and co-founding topological K-theory. He was awarded th ...
.
Research
Kirwan's research interests include
moduli spaces in
algebraic geometry,
geometric invariant theory
In mathematics, geometric invariant theory (or GIT) is a method for constructing quotients by group actions in algebraic geometry, used to construct moduli spaces. It was developed by David Mumford in 1965, using ideas from the paper in clas ...
(GIT), and in the link between GIT and
moment map In mathematics, specifically in symplectic geometry, the momentum map (or, by false etymology, moment map) is a tool associated with a Hamiltonian action of a Lie group on a symplectic manifold, used to construct conserved quantities for the ac ...
s in
symplectic geometry. Her work endeavours to understand the structure of geometric objects by investigation of their algebraic and
topological
In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ...
properties. She introduced the
Kirwan map.
From 1983 to 1985 she held a junior fellowship at
Harvard. From 1983 to 1986 she held a Fellowship at
Magdalen College, Oxford, before becoming a Fellow of
Balliol College, Oxford.
[Academia Europaea member profile](_blank)
retrieved 22 June 2014. She is an honorary fellow of
Clare College, Cambridge
Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refound ...
and also at Magdalen College.
In 1996, she was awarded the
Title of Distinction of Professor of Mathematics. From 2004 to 2006 she was president of the
London Mathematical Society, the second-youngest president in the society's history and only the second woman to be president. In 2005, she received a five-year
EPSRC
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to univers ...
Senior Research Fellowship, to support her research on the
moduli spaces of complex
algebraic curve
In mathematics, an affine algebraic plane curve is the zero set of a polynomial in two variables. A projective algebraic plane curve is the zero set in a projective plane of a homogeneous polynomial in three variables. An affine algebraic plane ...
s.
In 2017, she was elected
Savilian Professor of Geometry
The position of Savilian Professor of Geometry was established at the University of Oxford in 1619. It was founded (at the same time as the Savilian Professorship of Astronomy) by Sir Henry Savile, a mathematician and classical scholar who was ...
, becoming the first woman to hold the post. While this entailed a move to
New College, Oxford she was elected an emeritus fellow at Balliol. She was the convenor of the 2008–9 meeting of
European Women in Mathematics
European Women in Mathematics (EWM) is an international association of women working in the field of mathematics in Europe. The association participates in political and strategic work to promote the role of women in mathematics and offers its mem ...
and deputy convenor of the following meeting in 2010–11.
Prizes, awards and scholarships
* London Mathematical Society
Whitehead Prize
The Whitehead Prize is awarded yearly by the London Mathematical Society to multiple mathematicians working in the United Kingdom who are at an early stage of their career. The prize is named in memory of homotopy theory pioneer J. H. C. Whiteh ...
, 1989
[Dr Frances Kirwan awarded the Whitehead Prize](_blank)
lms.ac.uk; accessed 9 May 2014.
* Fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, 2001
* President,
London Mathematical Society, 2003–2005
*
EPSRC
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to univers ...
Senior Research Fellowship, 2005–2010, for her work in algebraic geometry
* Fellow of the
American Mathematical Society
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...
, 2012
* London Mathematical Society Senior Whitehead Prize, 2013
*
DBE for services to mathematics, 2014
*Maths and Computing
Suffrage Science award
The Suffrage Science award is a prize for women in science, engineering and computing founded in 2011, on the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day by the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS). There are three categories of awar ...
, 2016
* Member of
Academia Europaea
The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences.
The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...
* Chairman of the
United Kingdom Mathematics Trust
The United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) is a charity founded in 1996 to help with the education of children in mathematics within the UK.
History
The national mathematics competitions existed prior to the formation of the UKMT, but t ...
*
Sylvester Medal
The Sylvester Medal is a bronze medal awarded by the Royal Society (London) for the encouragement of mathematical research, and accompanied by a £1,000 prize. It was named in honour of James Joseph Sylvester, the Savilian Professor of Geometry a ...
of The Royal Society, 2021
* Honorary degree,
University of York, 2020
* Honorary degree,
University of St Andrews
(Aien aristeuein)
, motto_lang = grc
, mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best
, established =
, type = Public research university
Ancient university
, endowment ...
, 2022
Kirwan served on the medal selection committee for the awarding of the
Fields medal to
Dr. Mirzakhani.
Publications
*
*
with Jonathan Woolf:
*
References
External links
Profile at the University of Oxford Mathematical Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirwan, Frances
1959 births
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
20th-century British mathematicians
21st-century British mathematicians
Algebraic geometers
British women mathematicians
Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge
Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford
Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford
Fellows of New College, Oxford
Female Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
Members of Academia Europaea
Harvard Fellows
People educated at Oxford High School, England
Whitehead Prize winners
British women academics
Fellows of the Royal Society
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
20th-century women mathematicians
21st-century women mathematicians