Peter Neumann (mathematician)

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Peter Neumann 2008

Peter Michael Neumann (born December 28, 1940 in Oxford ) is a British mathematician.

He is the son of mathematicians Bernhard Neumann and Hanna Neumann and brother of Walter David Neumann . He studied at Queens College, Oxford University (Bachelor 1963). In 1966 he did his doctorate with Graham Higman at Oxford (A Study of Some Finite Permutation Groups). He was then from 1966 tutor and fellow at Queens College and from 1967 lecturer at Oxford University. In 2008 he retired.

Peter Neumann mainly dealt with group theory , for example finite and infinite permutation groups , solvable groups , group-theoretical algorithms, combinatorics , matrices over finite fields , history of group theory (for example about Issai Schur , Evariste Galois ).

With Julia Thompson and AJS Mann, he published the collected works of the pioneer of group theory William Burnside in two volumes in 2004 (Oxford University Press) and in 2011 he re- edited the works of Evariste Galois (European Mathematical Society).

In 1997 he found an algebraic solution to Alhazen's old problem with a fixed light source and fixed observer location to find the point of reflection of the light on a spherical mirror, which amounts to the solution of an equation of the fourth degree.

Peter Neumann with Cheryl Praeger (left), Oberwolfach 2007

In 2003 he received the Senior Whitehead Prize . He has held the Order of the British Empire (OBE) since 2008 . From 1996 to 2003 he was Chairman of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust. In 2008 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Oxford University for his teaching and in 2012 the David Crighton Medal. He is President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics. In 1976 he received a D. Sc. Oxford University. In 1987 he received the Lester Randolph Ford Award from the Mathematical Association of America .

Fonts

  • with Simon Blackburn, Geetha Venkataraman Enumeration of finite groups , Cambridge University Press 2007
  • with Gabrielle Stoy, Edward Thompson Groups and Geometry , Oxford 1994

Web links

References

  1. ^ Neumann Reflections on reflection in a spherical mirror , American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 105, No. 6, 1998, pp. 523-528.
  2. ↑ For his review of Harold Edwards' book Galois Theory in American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 93, 1986, pp. 407-411.
personal data
SURNAME Neumann, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Neumann, Peter Michael (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH December 28, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Oxford