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Robin Wilson (mathematician)

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This article is about the mathematician. For the musician, see Robin Wilson (musician).
The Honourable
Robin Wilson
Born (1943-12-05) 5 December 1943 (age 80)
United Kingdom
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Alma materUniversity College School, Hampstead, London
University of Oxford (Balliol College)
University of Pennsylvania
Parent(s)Harold Wilson
Mary Wilson
Scientific career
FieldsGraph Theory
InstitutionsOpen University,
Pembroke College, Oxford, Gresham College
Doctoral advisorNesmith Ankeny

Robin James Wilson (born 5 December 1943) is an emeritus professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Open University, having previously been Head of the Pure Mathematics Department and Dean of the Faculty.[1] He was a Stipendiary Lecturer at Pembroke College, Oxford[2] and, as of 2006, Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, where he has also been a visiting professor.[3] On occasion, he guest teaches at Colorado College.

From January 1999 to September 2003, Robin Wilson was editor-in-chief of the European Mathematical Society Newsletter.[4]

He is the son of Harold Wilson, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He is married with two daughters.[5]

Education

Mathematics

Wilson's academic interests lie in graph theory, particularly in colouring problems, e.g. the four colour problem, and algebraic properties of graphs.

He also researches the history of mathematics, particularly British mathematics and mathematics in the 17th century and the period 1860 to 1940 and the history of graph theory and combinatorics.

In 1974 he won the Lester R. Ford Award from the Mathematical Association of America for his expository article An introduction to matroid theory.[6][7]

Due to his collaboration on a 1977 paper[8] with the noted Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős, Wilson has an Erdős number of 1.

In July 2008 he published a study of the mathematical work of Lewis Carroll, the creator of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass — Lewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life.[9]

He is President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics.[10]

Other interests

He has strong interests in music, including the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, and is the co-author (with Frederic Lloyd) of Gilbert and Sullivan: The Official D'Oyly Carte Picture History.[11] In 2007 he was a guest on Private Passions, the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3.[12]

Other publications

Wilson has written or edited about thirty books to date, including popular books on sudoku and the Four Color Theorem:

  • Combinatorics: Ancient & Modern (with John Watkins), Oxford University Press, 2013: ISBN 0-19-965659-2
  • The Great Mathematicians (with Raymond Flood), Arcturus Publishing Ltd, 2011: ISBN 1-84837-902-1
  • Hidden Word Sudoku, Infinite Ideas Limited 2005: ISBN 1-904902-74-X
  • How to Solve Sudoku, Infinite Ideas Limited 2005: ISBN 1-904902-62-6
  • Sherlock Holmes in Babylon and Other Tales of Mathematical History (co-edited with Marlow Anderson and Victor Katz), The Mathematical Association of America, 2004: ISBN 0-88385-546-1
  • Mathematics and Music: From Pythagoras to Fractals (co-edited with John Fauvel & Raymond Flood), Oxford University Press, 2003: ISBN 0-19-851187-6
  • Four Colours Suffice: How the Map Problem Was Solved, Allen Lane (Penguin), 2002: ISBN 0-7139-9670-6
  • Stamping through Mathematics, Springer, 2001: ISBN 0-387-98949-8
  • Oxford Figures: 800 Years of the Mathematical Sciences (with John Fauvel & Raymond Flood), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000: ISBN 0-19-852309-2
  • Graphs and Applications: An Introductory Approach (with Joan Aldous), Springer, 2000: ISBN 1-85233-259-X
  • Mathematical Conversations: Selections from the Mathematical Intelligencer (with J. Gray), Springer, 2000: ISBN 0-387-98686-3
  • An Atlas of Graphs (with R.C. Read), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998: ISBN 0-19-853289-X (paperback edition, 2002: ISBN 0-19-852650-4)
  • Graph Theory 1736-1936 (with Norman L. Biggs and Keith Lloyd), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976: ISBN 0-19-853901-0

References

  1. ^ "Prof Robin Wilson". Open University - Department of Mathematics And Statistics. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  2. ^ Pembroke College Website
  3. ^ "Professor Robin Wilson". Gresham College. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  4. ^ European Mathematical Society Newsletter, No 49, September 2003, ISSN 1027-488X
  5. ^ John Crace (7 October 2008). "Serious showman". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  6. ^ Paul R. Halmos – Lester R. Ford Awards, Mathematical Association of America
  7. ^ Wilson, R. J. (1973). "An introduction to matroid theory". Amer. Math. Monthly. 80: 500–525. doi:10.2307/2319608.
  8. ^ "On the chromatic index of almost all graphs". Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B. 23: 255–257. doi:10.1016/0095-8956(77)90039-9.
  9. ^ Allen Lane, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7139-9757-6
  10. ^ "Professor Robin Wilson". Open University. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  11. ^ Knopf, 1984. ISBN 978-0-394-54113-6
  12. ^ BBC Radio 3
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