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Robin Wilson (mathematician)

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Robin Wilson
Robin Wilson in 2011
Born
Robin James Wilson

(1943-12-05) 5 December 1943 (age 80)
London, England
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford (BA)
University of Pennsylvania (MA, PhD)
Spouse
Joy Crispin
(m. 1968)
Children2
Parent(s)Harold Wilson
Mary Baldwin
Scientific career
FieldsGraph theory
InstitutionsOpen University
University of Oxford
Gresham College
Doctoral advisorNesmith Ankeny
Doctoral studentsAmanda Chetwynd

Robin James Wilson (born 5 December 1943) is an English mathematician. He 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, from 2004 to 2008, Gresham Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London.[3] On occasion, he teaches at Colorado College in the United States.[4] He is also a long standing fellow of Keble College, Oxford.

Professor Wilson is a son of former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his wife, Mary.

Early life and education

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Wilson was born in 1943 to the politician Harold Wilson, who later became Prime Minister, and his wife the poet Mary Wilson (née Baldwin). He has a younger brother, Giles, who in his 50s gave up a career as a teacher to be a train driver.[5] Wilson attended University College School in Hampstead, North London. He achieved a BA First Class Honours in Mathematics from Balliol College, Oxford, an MA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania (1965–1968). In a Guardian interview in 2008, Wilson spoke of the fact he grew up known to everyone primarily as a son of the Labour Party leader and Prime Minister Harold Wilson: "I hated the attention and I still dislike being introduced as Harold Wilson's son. I feel uncomfortable talking about it to strangers even now."[6]

Mathematics career

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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.[7][8] Due to his collaboration on a 1977 paper[9] with the 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-GlassLewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life (Allen Lane, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7139-9757-6). From January 1999 to September 2003, Wilson was editor-in-chief of the European Mathematical Society Newsletter and in 2003-2008 an Associate Editor.[10] He is past President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics.[11]

Since 1985, Robin Wilson has edited the mathematics on stamps "Stamp Corner" column for the Mathematical Intelligencer.[12]

Other interests

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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.[13] In 2007, he was a guest on Private Passions, the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3.[14]

Personal life

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Wilson is married and has twin daughters.[15]

Publications

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

References

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  1. ^ "Prof Robin Wilson". UK: 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. ^ "Block Visitors" (PDF). Countable Bits. 8 (1). The Colorado College Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. May 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  5. ^ "Son of former PM Harold Wilson swaps teaching for a career as train driver". London Evening Standard. 20 November 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  6. ^ Crace, John (6 October 2008). "Interview: Robin Wilson, mathematics professor, on his passions and father". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  7. ^ Paul R. Halmos – Lester R. Ford Awards, Mathematical Association of America
  8. ^ Wilson, R. J. (1973). "An introduction to matroid theory". Amer. Math. Monthly. 80 (5): 500–525. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.599.5103. doi:10.2307/2319608. JSTOR 2319608.
  9. ^ Erdős, P.; Wilson, Robin J. (1977). "On the chromatic index of almost all graphs". Journal of Combinatorial Theory. Series B. 23 (2–3): 255–257. doi:10.1016/0095-8956(77)90039-9.
  10. ^ European Mathematical Society Newsletter, No 49, September 2003, ISSN 1027-488X
  11. ^ "Professor Robin Wilson". Open University. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  12. ^ Wilson, Robin. "My Favorite Mathematical Stamps: 40 Years of Intelligencer Stamp Corners". The Mathematical Intelligencer. 46 (1): 70–77. doi:10.1007/s00283-023-10305-2. ISSN 0343-6993.
  13. ^ Knopf, 1984. ISBN 978-0-394-54113-6
  14. ^ "BBC Radio 3 - Private Passions". BBC. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  15. ^ John Crace (7 October 2008). "Serious showman". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  16. ^ Robinson, Andrew (4 January 2017). "The Turing Guide: Last words on an enigmatic codebreaker?". New Scientist.
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