List of Welsh mathematicians

Several mathematicians who have made contributions to the development of mathematics have hailed from Wales.

• Brian Hayward Bowditch, known for his contributions to geometry and topology, particularly in the areas of geometric group theory and low-dimensional topology. He is also known for solving the angel problem. Bowditch holds a chaired Professor appointment in Mathematics at the University of Warwick.
• William Jones, born in Anglesey in 1675, was the first recorded mathematician to use the symbol π in its present sense in 1706, though it would not achieve widespread adoption until used by famed Swiss mathematician Euler.
• Thomas Jones (23 June 1756–18 July 1807) was Senior Wrangler and Senior Tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge.
• John T. Lewis (1932–2004), contributed to quantum measurement, Bose–Einstein condensation and large deviations theory.
• Richard Price, wrote a paper on the proper method of calculating the values of contingent reversions which were said to have exercised a beneficial influence in drawing attention to the inadequate calculations on which many insurance and benefit societies had recently been formed. In 1769 Price received the degree of D.D. from the university of Glasgow for this work. He also wrote on finance, economics, probability, and life insurance. Price edited Bayes's major work An Essay towards solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances (1763), which contains the Bayes' Theorem with an introduction to the paper which provides some of the philosophical basis of Bayesian statistics. In 1765 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his work on the legacy of Bayes.
• Robert Recorde, sixteenth-century inventor of the equals sign was from Tenby. As it has been suggested, "[h]is equals sign was an invention that, while slow in becoming universally adopted, is still perhaps the most fundamental thing ever invented by a person from Wales" ([1]).
• Bertrand Russell, perhaps the most influential British thinker of the twentieth century, though more properly a philosopher than a mathematician, was of English descent but born in Monmouthshire.
• William Morgan (actuary), considered the father of modern actuarial science.

References

• Chambers, Ll. G. Mathemategwyr Cymru (Mathematicians of Wales), Cyd Bwyllgor Addysg Cymru, 1994.

External links

• Welsh scientists Mathematicians, Scientists and Inventors