Tristan Needham 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 ...

and professor of mathematics at the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

Education, career and publications

Tristan is the son of

social anthropologist Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

Rodney Needham Rodney Needham (15 May 1923 – 4 December 2006 in Oxford) was an English social anthropologist. Born Rodney Phillip Needham Green, he changed his name in 1947; the following year he married Maud Claudia (Ruth) Brysz. The couple would collaborat ...

Oxford, England Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

. He attended the

Dragon School ("Reach for the Sun") , established = 1877 , closed = , type = Preparatory day and boarding school and Pre-Prep school , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Emma Goldsm ...

. Later Needham attended 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 ...

and studied

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

Merton College Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ch ...

, and then transferred to the Mathematical Institute where he studied under

Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, an emeritus fello ...

. He obtained his D.Phil. in 1987 and in 1989 took up his post at University of San Francisco. In 1993 he published ''A Visual Explanation of

Jensen's inequality In mathematics, Jensen's inequality, named after the Danish mathematician Johan Jensen, relates the value of a convex function of an integral to the integral of the convex function. It was proved by Jensen in 1906, building on an earlier pr ...

''. The following year he published ''The Geometry of Harmonic Functions'', which won the

Carl B. Allendoerfer Award The Carl B. Allendoerfer Award is presented annually by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) for "expository excellence published in ''Mathematics Magazine''." it is named after mathematician Carl B. Allendoerfer who was president of the M ...

for 1995. Needham wrote the book ''Visual Complex Analysis'', which has received positive reviews. Though it is described as a "radical first course in

complex analysis Complex analysis, traditionally known as the theory of functions of a complex variable, is the branch of mathematical analysis that investigates Function (mathematics), functions of complex numbers. It is helpful in many branches of mathemati ...

aimed at undergraduates", writing in ''

Mathematical Reviews ''Mathematical Reviews'' is a journal published by the American Mathematical Society (AMS) that contains brief synopses, and in some cases evaluations, of many articles in mathematics, statistics, and theoretical computer science. The AMS also pu ...

'' D.H. Armitage said that "the book will be appreciated most by those who already know some complex analysis." In fact Douglas Hofstadter wrote "Needham's work of art with its hundreds and hundreds of beautiful figures á la Latta, brings complex analysis alive in an unprecedented manner". Hofstadter had studied complex analysis at Stanford with Gordon Latta, and he recalled "Latta's amazingly precise and elegant blackboard diagrams". In 2001 a German language version, translated by Norbert Herrmann and Ina Paschen, was published by R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich. Needham has completed a new book, originally called ''Visual Differential Geometry'', but ultimately called ''Visual Differential Geometry and Forms: A Mathematical Drama in Five Acts (

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...

), 2021'.''

Bibliography

* Needham, Tristan. ''Visual Complex Analysis.'' The Clarendon Press,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, New York, 1997 . * Needham, Tristan. ''Visual Differential Geometry and Forms: A Mathematical Drama in Five Acts.''

, Princeton, 2021 .

Notes

External links

*
Author website for the book ''Visual Complex Analysis''

Princeton University Press website for the book ''Visual Differential Geometry and Forms: A Mathematical Drama in Five Acts''

Author website (including Errata) for the book ''Visual Differential Geometry and Forms: A Mathematical Drama in Five Acts''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Needham, Tristan 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of Merton College, Oxford People educated at The Dragon School University of San Francisco faculty American textbook writers

Education, career and publications

See also

Bibliography

Notes

External links