Graeme Bryce Segal
FRS (born 21 December 1941) is an Australian
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 ...
, and professor 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 ...
.
Biography
Segal was educated at the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...
, where he received his
BSc
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
degree in 1961. He went on to receive his
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 ...
in 1967 from
St Catherine's College, Oxford
St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is the newest college admitting both undergraduate and graduate students. Tracing its roots back to 1868 (although t ...
; his thesis, written under the supervision of
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 ...
, was titled ''Equivariant K-theory''.
His thesis was in the area of equivariant
K-theory
In mathematics, K-theory is, roughly speaking, the study of a ring generated by vector bundles over a topological space or scheme. In algebraic topology, it is a cohomology theory known as topological K-theory. In algebra and algebraic geometr ...
. The
Atiyah–Segal completion theorem in that subject was a major motivation for the
Segal conjecture, which he formulated. He has made many other contributions to
homotopy theory in the past four decades, including an approach to
infinite loop spaces. He was also a pioneer of
elliptic cohomology
In mathematics, elliptic cohomology is a cohomology theory in the sense of algebraic topology. It is related to elliptic curves and modular forms.
History and motivation
Historically, elliptic cohomology arose from the study of elliptic genera. ...
, which is related to his interest in
topological quantum field theory
In gauge theory and mathematical physics, a topological quantum field theory (or topological field theory or TQFT) is a quantum field theory which computes topological invariants.
Although TQFTs were invented by physicists, they are also of mathe ...
.
Segal was an Invited Speaker at the
ICM in 1970 in Nice and in 1990 in Kyoto. He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...
in 1982 and an Emeritus Fellow of
All Souls College, Oxford.
He was awarded the
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 ...
by the Royal Society in 2010.
He was
Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry
The Lowndean chair of Astronomy and Geometry is one of the two major Professorships in Astronomy (alongside the Plumian Professorship) and a major Professorship in Mathematics at Cambridge University. It was founded in 1749 by Thomas Lowndes, an ...
from 1990 to 1999.
Segal was elected the President of the
London Mathematical Society in 2011.
He is married to writer,
Marina Warner
Dame Marina Sarah Warner, (born 9 November 1946) is an English historian, mythographer, art critic, novelist and short story writer. She is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth. She has written for many publicat ...
. They live in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
[,]
Books
* ''Loop Groups'' (Oxford Mathematical Monographs). New ed. Clarendon Press, Oxford 2003, (with Andrew Pressley).
* ''Lectures on Lie groups and Lie algebras'' (London Mathematical Society Student texts Vol. 32). 5th ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2006, (with
Ian G. Macdonald and
Roger Carter).
References
External links
Dr Graeme Segal FRS,
Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford
The Mathematical Institute is the mathematics department at the University of Oxford in England. It is one of the nine departments of the university's Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division. The institute includes both pure and appl ...
*
Topology, Geometry and Quantum Field Theory Proceedings of the 2002 Oxford Symposium in Honour of the 60th Birthday of Graeme Segal.
1942 births
Living people
University of Sydney alumni
Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford
20th-century British mathematicians
21st-century British mathematicians
Topologists
Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford
Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge
Cambridge mathematicians
Fellows of the Royal Society
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
Lowndean Professors of Astronomy and Geometry
Presidents of the London Mathematical Society
{{UK-mathematician-stub