John Mackintosh Howie

John Mackintosh Howie (born May 23, 1936 in Chryston , † December 26, 2011 in St Andrews ) was a Scottish mathematician and a founder and well-known proponent of semigroup theory . Through his work on the Howie Report and the radical ideas it represented on cultural politics in Scotland, he paved the way for later reforms.

Life

Though born in Chryston, Lanarkshire , Howie grew up predominantly in Keith , Banffshire . There he lived with his parents, the pastor of the Church of Scotland David Yuille Howie and his wife Janet Macdonald Mackintosh as well as an older sister and a younger brother. In 1946 the family moved to Aberdeen, where John transferred to university in 1948. Educated at Robert Gordon's College, today's Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen , he graduated in 1954 as Modern Dux (best in class). He moved to the University of Aberdeen and graduated in 1958 with an MA in mathematics and natural philosophy summa cum laude . During his studies, he won various university awards, the JA Third Price, the Simpson Price and the Rennet Gold Medal for Mathematics and the Lyon Price for Most Notable Art Student. After another year in Aberdeen, he moved to Balliol College , Oxford , where he completed his doctorate with a thesis on semigroup theory. His PhD supervisor was Graham Higman . However, Higman was temporarily absent, so that the returned to Oxford Gordon Preston took over the supervision. Perhaps this relationship explains Howie's subject matter. Howie dealt with irreversible operations in semigroup theory, which also formed the core of his further scientific work. In 1961 he received his Ph.D. awarded for Some problems in the theory of semigroups.

In 1962 the results of his doctoral thesis were published in the Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society under the title Embedding theorems with amalgamation for semigroups . Howie's 1976 work on the introduction to semigroup theory ( An Introduction to Semigroup Theory ) remains a standard work to this day.

In 1961 he and his wife Dorothy moved to Glasgow, where he worked as a research assistant for two years. From there he moved to Tulane University in New Orleans before lecturing in Glasgow until 1967. In 1967 he became a founding member as a senior lecturer at the University of Stirling .

When Edward Copson retired from the Regius Professorship in autumn 1969, the search for a new professor began. In 1970 Howie was appointed Regius Professor of Mathematics at the University of St Andrews . Howie spent the rest of his academic career there. Also in 1970 Howie was awarded a D.Sc. by the University of Aberdeen for his Contributions to the algebraic theory of semigroups. excellent. From 1976 to 1979 he served as dean of the science faculty . Howie retired in 1997. Howie has served on numerous committees, supervised exam preparation, or as an external representative at universities in Edinburgh, Glasgow, York, Belfast and more in the UK and abroad.

In his spare time, Howie played the organ and sang in a university choir.

Awards

In 1971 the Royal Society of Edinburgh appointed him a Fellow. Howie was awarded the Keith Medal for his writings published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1979 to 1981 . In 1973 he served as President of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society and later twice as Vice President of the London Mathematical Society . For his services Howie was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993 and the Open University awarded him an honorary doctorate .

bibliography

In retirement Howie published books and a total of over 70 scientific articles.

1976: An Introduction to Semigroup Theory
1991: Automata and languages
1995: Fundamentals of semigroup theory
2003: Complex analysis
2005: Fields and Galois Theory

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u J. J. O'Connor and EF Robertson: John Mackintosh Howie. In: University of St Andrews website. January 2012, accessed April 22, 2019 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t Alison Shaw: Obituary: Professor John Howie, academic who helped reform Scottish education. In: The Scotsman - Scotland's National Newspaper. January 23, 2012, accessed April 22, 2019 .

personal data
SURNAME	Howie, John Mackintosh
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Howie, John M .; Howie, JM; Mackintosh Howie, John; Mackintosh Howie, J .; Howie, John; Howie, J.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British mathematician and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH	May 23, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH	Chryston , Scotland , United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH	December 26, 2011
Place of death	St Andrews

[StAndrewsHowie-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u J. J. O'Connor and EF Robertson: John Mackintosh Howie. In: University of St Andrews website. January 2012, accessed April 22, 2019 .

[ScotsmanObit-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t Alison Shaw: Obituary: Professor John Howie, academic who helped reform Scottish education. In: The Scotsman - Scotland's National Newspaper. January 23, 2012, accessed April 22, 2019 .