Sir Henry Peter Francis Swinnerton-Dyer, 16th Baronet, (2 August 1927 – 26 December 2018) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
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 ...
specialising in
number theory
Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777â ...
at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
. As a mathematician he was best known for his part in the
Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
In mathematics, the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture (often called the Birch–Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture) describes the set of rational solutions to equations defining an elliptic curve. It is an open problem in the field of number theory an ...
relating algebraic properties of
elliptic curve
In mathematics, an elliptic curve is a smooth, projective, algebraic curve of genus one, on which there is a specified point . An elliptic curve is defined over a field and describes points in , the Cartesian product of with itself. If ...
s to special values of
L-function
In mathematics, an ''L''-function is a meromorphic function on the complex plane, associated to one out of several categories of mathematical objects. An ''L''-series is a Dirichlet series, usually convergent on a half-plane, that may give ris ...
s, which was developed with
Bryan Birch
Bryan John Birch FRS (born 25 September 1931) is a British mathematician. His name has been given to the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture.
Biography
Bryan John Birch was born in Burton-on-Trent, the son of Arthur Jack and Mary Edith Birch. ...
during the first half of the 1960s with the help of machine computation, and for his work on the
Titan operating system.
Biography
Swinnerton-Dyer was the son of Sir Leonard Schroeder Swinnerton Dyer, 15th
Baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
, and his wife Barbara, daughter of Hereward Brackenbury. He was a Fellow of
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
, Master of
St Catharine's College from 1973 to 1983, and
vice-chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...
of the University of Cambridge from 1979 to 1981. In 1983 he was made an
Honorary Fellow
Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...
of St Catharine's.
In the same year, 1983, he became Chairman of the
University Grants Committee and then from 1989, Chief Executive of its successor, the
Universities Funding Council
The Universities Funding Council (UFC) was a UK body established under the Education Reform Act 1988 replacing the University Grants Committee. It distributed funds provided by central government to universities for the provision of education and ...
.
He was elected
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 science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 1967 and was made a
KBE in 1987. In 1981, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the
University of Bath
(Virgil, Georgics II)
, mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind
, established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...
. In 2006 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 ...
,
and also the
Pólya Prize (LMS)
The Pólya Prize is a prize in mathematics, awarded by the London Mathematical Society. Second only to the triennial De Morgan Medal in prestige among the society's awards, it is awarded in the years that are not divisible by three – those in wh ...
.
Swinnerton-Dyer was, in his younger days, an international
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
player, representing the British team twice in the European Open teams championship. In 1953 at
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
he was partnered by Dimmie Fleming: the team came second out of fifteen teams. In 1962 he was partnered by Ken Barbour; the team came fourth out of twelve teams at
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
.
He married Dr
Harriet Crawford
Harriet Elizabeth Walston Crawford (born 1937) is a British archaeologist. She is Reader Emerita at the UCL Institute of Archaeology and a senior fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.
Life
Harriet ...
in 1983.
Death
Swinnerton-Dyer died on 26 December 2018 at the age of 91.
Books
*.
*.
See also
*
List of Masters of St Catharine's College, Cambridge
*
List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge
*
Littlewood conjecture
In mathematics, the Littlewood conjecture is an open problem () in Diophantine approximation, proposed by John Edensor Littlewood around 1930. It states that for any two real numbers α and β,
:\liminf_ \ n\,\Vert n\alpha\Vert \,\Vert n\beta\Ver ...
*
Rank of a partition
In mathematics, particularly in the fields of number theory and combinatorics, the rank of a partition of a positive integer is a certain integer associated with the partition. In fact at least two different definitions of rank appear in the lite ...
*
Swinnerton-Dyer polynomials
Notes
External links
*
Number Theory and Algebraic Geometry -- to Peter Swinnerton-Dyer on his 75th birthday, edited by Miles Reid and Alexei Skorobogatov, LMS Lecture Notes 303, Cambridge University Press, 2004
*
*
*
Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 12 May 2008 (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swinnerton-Dyer, Peter
1927 births
2018 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Dyer, Henry Peter Francis Swinnerton-Dyer, 16th Baronet
British and Irish contract bridge players
Cambridge mathematicians
English mathematicians
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge
Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Masters of St Catharine's College, Cambridge
Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge