Alexander Murray Macbeath
{{short description|English mathematician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Murray Macbeath
| image = Wilhelm Kaup Murray Macbeath.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Murray Macbeath (right) with Wilhelm Kaup
| birth_name = Alexander Murray Macbeath
| birth_date = 30 June 1923
| birth_place = Glasgow, Scotland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2014|05|14|1923|06|30}}
| death_place = Warwick, England
| other_names =
| occupation = mathematician, professor
| known_for = WWII codebreaking, MacBeath Surfaces, MacBeath Regions
| alma_mater = Queens University, Belfast (B.A.)
Clare College, Cambridge (M.A.)
Princeton University (Ph.D., 1950)
| spouse = Julie (1952-his death)
| children = 2
}}
Alexander Murray Macbeath (30 June 1923 Glasgow – 14 May 2014 Warwick){{citation|title=Obituary: Professor Murray Macbeath, mathematician and wartime codebreaker|issue=Friday 27 June |year=2014|first=Campbell|last=Thomas|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-professor-murray-macbeath-mathematician-and-wartime-codebreaker-1-3451095|journal=The Scotsman}}{{citation|title=Professor Murray MacBeath|series=Obituaries|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/obituaries/article4131231.ece|issue=Friday 27 June|year= 2014|journal=The Times}}{{citation|url=http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk/09.html#80 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121228220428/http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk/09.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 December 2012 |author=Bill Harvey |publisher=London Mathematical Society |date=1 July 2014 |accessdate=2014-07-06 |title=Murray Macbeath }} was a mathematician who worked on Riemann surfaces. Macbeath surfaces and Macbeath regions are named after him.
Early life and education
Macbeath was the son of Alexander Macbeath, a philosopher and logician who took a position at Queen's University Belfast in 1925,{{citation|title=Obituary: Professor Alexander MacBeath|journal=Glasgow Herald|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19641216&id=dG5AAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oKMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6436,2594915|date=16 December 1964}}. soon after Murray was born. Murray also studied at Queen's University, earning a B.A. with honours.
During World War II, he worked in Hut 7 of the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, breaking ciphers used for military communications by the Japanese navy and, later, the army.
After the war he earned an M.A. (again with honours) from Clare College, Cambridge.
With a Commonwealth Fund fellowship, he then attended Princeton University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1950 under the supervision of Emil Artin.{{Mathgenealogy|id=24339}}
Career
He taught at Keele University and the University of Dundee before moving to the University of Birmingham in 1963 where he stayed until 1979 as Mason Professor, then moved back to the University of Pittsburgh in the United States until he reached their statutory retirement age of 60.
He subsequently took up a position at the University of Dundee where he remained for a number of years, before moving to Warwickshire where at the University of Warwick he held the position of Emeritus Professor of Mathematics.
Death
Professor Macbeath died on 14 May 2014 in Warwick, England.
References
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Category:20th-century Scottish mathematicians
Category:Scientists from Glasgow
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