Ian R. Porteous
Ian R. Porteous | |
|---|---|
| Born | 9 October 1930 |
| Died | 30 January 2011 (aged 80) |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Liverpool |
| Doctoral advisor | W. V. D. Hodge Michael Atiyah |
Ian Robertson Porteous (9 October 1930 – 30 January 2011) was a Scottish mathematician at the
Family and early life
Porteous was born on 9 October 1930. He was one of six children of Reverend
Early career
Porteous began teaching at the University of Liverpool as a lecturer in 1959, becoming senior lecturer in 1972. During a year (1961–62) at Columbia University in New York, Porteous was influenced by Serge Lang. He continued to do research on manifolds in differential geometry. In 1971 his article "The normal singularities of a submanifold" was published in Journal of Differential Geometry 5:543–64. It was concerned with the smooth embeddings of an m-manifold in Rn.
In 1969 Porteous published Topological Geometry with Van Nostrand Reinhold and Company. It was reviewed in Mathematical Reviews by J. Eells, who interpreted it as a three-term textbook for a sequence in abstract algebra, geometric algebra, and differential calculus in Euclidean and Banach spaces and on manifolds. Eells says "Surely this book is the product of substantial thought and care, both from the standpoints of consistent mathematical presentation and of student's pedagogical requirements." In 1981 a second edition was published with Cambridge University Press.
Later career and works
In 1995 Ian Porteous published Clifford Algebras and the Classical Groups which was reviewed by Peter R. Law.
The textbook Geometric Differentiation (1994) is a modern, elementary study of
Death and legacy
Porteous' commitment to mathematics education can be seen through the work of his charity "Mathematical Education on Merseyside" (see references). As recounted in the book Challenging Mathematics, in 1978 Giblin and Porteous began to organise a Challenge competition for first and second formers in secondary school. By 1989 they were drawing 3,500 participants each year. The competition was held over two weekends in the Spring Term. Students considered six questions in each round. Marking was arranged through the mathematics department of Liverpool University, and prizes were awarded at "an evening of mathematical recreation". Broad participation was encouraged by making half the problems widely accessible. Solutions to the problems appear in their book.
Beyond mathematics, Porteous enjoyed
He died suddenly of a suspected
Selected publications
- Porteous, Ian R. (1981), Topological Geometry (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 486, ISBN 0-521-23160-4
- Porteous, Ian R. (1995), Clifford Algebras and the Classical Groups, Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics, vol. 50, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-55177-9[6]
- Porteous, Ian R. (2001), Geometric Differentiation, For the Intelligence of Curves and Surfaces (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 350, ISBN 978-0-521-00264-6
- Giblin, P.J.; Porteus, I. R. (1990), Challenging Mathematics, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-914361-7
- Vladimir Arnold (1995) "The geometry of spherical curves and the algebra of quaternions", translated by Ian Porteous, Russian Mathematical Surveys 50:1–68.
See also
References
- ^ a b Department of Mathematical Sciences. "In Memoriam: Dr Ian Porteous". University of Liverpool.
- ^ a b Peter Giblin (17 February 2011). "Ian Porteous obituary". The Guardian.
- ^ Ian R. Porteous at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- MR1369094
- MR1302171
- ^ Corrections to Clifford Algebras and the Classical Groups Archived 25 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Ian R. Porteous at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Hodge Institute (2011) Ian Porteous
- Peter Giblin (2012) In Memoriam, Ian R. Porteous 9 October 1930 – 30 January 2011, Journal of Singularities, Volume 6.
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