Jeffrey Bruce Paris (born 15 November 1944) 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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and Professor of Logic in the School of Mathematics at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

Education

Paris gained his doctorate supervised by

Robin Gandy Robin Oliver Gandy (22 September 1919 – 20 November 1995) was a British mathematician and logician. He was a friend, student, and associate of Alan Turing, having been supervised by Turing during his PhD at the University of Cambridge, where ...

at Manchester in 1969 with a dissertation on ''

Large Cardinal In the mathematical field of set theory, a large cardinal property is a certain kind of property of transfinite cardinal numbers. Cardinals with such properties are, as the name suggests, generally very "large" (for example, bigger than the least ...

s and the

Generalized Continuum Hypothesis In mathematics, specifically set theory, the continuum hypothesis (abbreviated CH) is a hypothesis about the possible sizes of infinite sets. It states: Or equivalently: In Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice (ZFC), this ...

''.

Research and career

Paris is known for his work on

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of Logic#Formal logic, formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory (also known as computability theory). Research in mathematical logic com ...

, in particular provability in arithmetic, uncertain reasoning and

inductive logic Inductive reasoning refers to a variety of methods of reasoning in which the conclusion of an argument is supported not with deductive certainty, but with some degree of probability. Unlike ''deductive'' reasoning (such as mathematical inducti ...

with an emphasis on rationality and common sense principles. The Paris-Harrington theorem is a natural Ramsey-theoretic statement which is expressible in

Peano arithmetic In mathematical logic, the Peano axioms (, ), also known as the Dedekind–Peano axioms or the Peano postulates, are axioms for the natural numbers presented by the 19th-century Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano. These axioms have been used nea ...

, but is not provable within this system, an illustration of Gödel's first incompleteness theorem.

Awards and honours

Paris was awarded the

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. Whitehe ...

in 1983 and elected a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

(FBA) in 1999.

Personal life

Paris was married to Malvyn Loraine Blackburn until 1983 when he married Alena Vencovská. He has three sons and three daughters including runner Jasmin Paris.

References

20th-century British mathematicians 21st-century British mathematicians British logicians Living people Academics of the University of Manchester Fellows of the British Academy Whitehead Prize winners 1944 births Alumni of the University of Manchester {{UK-mathematician-stub