Kenneth John Falconer (born 25 January 1952) 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 ...

working in

mathematical analysis Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions, limit (mathematics), limits, and related theories, such as Derivative, differentiation, Integral, integration, measure (mathematics), measure, infinite sequences, series ( ...

and in particular on fractal geometry. He is Regius Professor of Mathematics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

Research

Falconer is known for his work on the mathematics of

fractals In mathematics, a fractal is a Shape, geometric shape containing detailed structure at arbitrarily small scales, usually having a fractal dimension strictly exceeding the topological dimension. Many fractals appear similar at various scale ...

and in particular sets and measures arising from iterated function systems, especially self-similar and self-affine sets. Closely related is his research on Hausdorff and other

fractal dimension In mathematics, a fractal dimension is a term invoked in the science of geometry to provide a rational statistical index of complexity detail in a pattern. A fractal pattern changes with the Scaling (geometry), scale at which it is measured. It ...

s. He formulated '' Falconer's conjecture'' on the dimension of distance sets and conceived the notion of a digital sundial. In combinatorial geometry he established a lower bound of 5 for the chromatic number of the plane in the Lebesgue measurable case.

Education and career

Falconer was educated at Kingston Grammar School,

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

and

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

. He graduated in 1974 and completed his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1979 under the supervision of Hallard Croft. He was a research fellow at

from 1977 to 1980 before moving to

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

. He was appointed Professor of Pure Mathematics at the

in 1993 and was head of the School of Mathematics and Statistics from 2001 to 2004. He served on the council of the

London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's Learned society, learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh ...

from 2000 to 2009 including as publications secretary from 2006 to 2009.

Honours and awards

Falconer was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 1998. In 2020, he was awarded the Shephard Prize of the London Mathematical Society. Falconer was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2024 New Year Honours The 2024 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...

for services to mathematics.

Personal life

Falconer was born 25 January 1952 at Bearsted Memorial Maternity Hospital outside

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

. His recreational interests include long-distance walking and hill walking. He was chair of the

Long Distance Walkers Association The Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) is a British not for profit, volunteer-led association whose aim is "to further the common interests of those who enjoy Long Distance Walking" in rural, urban, mountainous, coastal and moorland areas. ...

from 2000 to 2003 and editor of their journal ''Strider'' from 1987 to 1992 and 2007–12. In 2021, he was appointed a Vice President of the LDWA. He has twice climbed all the

Munro A Munro (; ) is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevi ...

s as well as all the Corbetts.

References

Selected publications

* * * * *

External links

Personal web page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Falconer, Kenneth 1952 births Living people 20th-century English mathematicians 21st-century British mathematicians Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Academics of the University of St Andrews People educated at Kingston Grammar School British geometers Functional analysts Commanders of the Order of the British Empire