Gustav Lehrer

Gustav Lehrer was born in 1947 in Munich, Germany. His parents were holocaust survivors originally from Poland, and the family emigrated to Australia when Lehrer was 3 years old. He completed his BSc degree in mathematics from the University of Sydney in 1967. He then completed his PhD in mathematics in 1971 at the University of Warwick under the supervision of James Alexander "Sandy" Green. His doctoral thesis was titled On the discrete series characters of linear groups.{{Cite web |last=Centre for Transformative Innovation |first=Swinburne University of Technology |title=Lehrer, Gustav Isaac - Person - Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation |url=https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P004678b.htm |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=www.eoas.info |language=en-gb}}

Lehrer served as a lecturer in the United Kingdom at the University of Warwick and the University of Birmingham from 1971 until returning to Australia in 1974 to take a position as a lecturer at the University of Sydney. In 1991, Lehrer was appointed head of the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Sydney. From 1996 to 1998, Lehrer was Head of the Centre for Mathematics and its Applications (CMA) at the Australian National University.{{Cite web |last=Centre for Transformative Innovation |first=Swinburne University of Technology |title=Lehrer, Gustav Isaac - Person - Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation |url=https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P004678b.htm |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=www.eoas.info |language=en-gb}} In 2007, he became of a member of the Mathematical Sciences Sectional Committee of the Australian Academy of Science.

Through the course of his career, he was a guest lecturer worldwide, including the Institute for Mathematical Research in Zurich, the University of Aarhaus, the University of Essen, the Ecole Normale Superieure, and the Science University of Tokyo.

Lehrer is a member of the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University,{{cite web |title=Board of Governors – Roll of Governors |url=https://bog.tau.ac.il/bog_governors_roll |website=Tel Aviv University |access-date=2025-02-11}}{{Cite web |title=About – Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University |url=https://www.aftau.asn.au/page_categories/about/ |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=www.aftau.asn.au}} and from 2011-2022 was the President of the Sydney Jewish Museum.{{cite web |title=Change of Leadership at the Sydney Jewish Museum |url=https://www.jwire.com.au/change-of-leadership-at-the-sydney-jewish-museum/ |website=J-Wire |date=2021-12-08 |access-date=2025-02-11}}{{Cite web |last=sjmadmin |title=Sydney Jewish Museum Appoints New CEO Effective February 2022 |url=https://sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au/news/sydney-jewish-museum-appoints-new-ceo-effective-february-2022/ |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=Sydney Jewish Museum |language=en-US}} He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Sydney Grammar School from 1995 to 2022.

Much of Lehrer's research has centered around representation theory. His doctoral thesis dealt with the issue of representing finite Lie groups.{{Cite book |last=Lehrer |first=Gustav Isaac |title=On the discrete series characters of linear groups. |date=1971 |publisher=University of Warwick}} Throughout his time in the UK, he researched linear groups. During this period, his work was influenced by David Mumford, who lectured at the University of Warwick during Lehrer's time there.{{Cite web |last=Yumpu.com |title=Interview with Gus Lehrer - Asia Pacific Math Newsletter |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/33559129/interview-with-gus-lehrer-asia-pacific-math-newsletter |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=yumpu.com |language=en}} Upon returning to Australia, Lehrer collaborated with Robert Howlett to solve Springer's decomposition problem, resulting in the development of the Howlett-Lehrer theory.{{Cite journal |last=Ackermann |first=B. |date=2002-09-01 |title=A short note on Howlett-Lehrer Theory |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00013-002-8299-9 |journal=Archiv der Mathematik |language=en |volume=79 |issue=3 |pages=161–166 |doi=10.1007/s00013-002-8299-9 |issn=1420-8938|url-access=subscription }} This theory subsequently had applications in a number of other fields of mathematics, including contributing to the development of the Deligne-Lusztig theory.{{Cite journal |last1=Deligne |first1=P. |last2=Lusztig |first2=G. |date=1976 |title=Representations of Reductive Groups Over Finite Fields |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1971021 |journal=Annals of Mathematics |volume=103 |issue=1 |pages=103–161 |doi=10.2307/1971021 |jstor=1971021 |issn=0003-486X|url-access=subscription }}

Lehrer contributed significantly to the problem of determining the geometry of the space of configurations of n distinct points in a complex plane, which is a problem in topology with relations to knot theory, developing novel algebraic geometric, topological, and analytical approaches.{{Cite journal |last1=Lehrer |first1=G. I |last2=Solomon |first2=Louis |date=1986-12-01 |title=On the action of the symmetric group on the cohomology of the complement of its reflecting hyperplanes |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0021869386902255 |journal=Journal of Algebra |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=410–424 |doi=10.1016/0021-8693(86)90225-5 |issn=0021-8693|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Kisin |first1=M. |last2=Lehrer |first2=G. I. |date=2002-01-15 |title=Equivariant Poincaré Polynomials and Counting Points over Finite Fields |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0021869301990295 |journal=Journal of Algebra |volume=247 |issue=2 |pages=435–451 |doi=10.1006/jabr.2001.9029 |issn=0021-8693}}{{Cite book |last1=Dimca |first1=Alexandru |last2=Lehrer |first2=Gus |chapter=Hodge-Deligne equivariant polynomials and monodromy of hyperplane arrangements |date=2012 |editor-last=Bjorner |editor-first=A. |editor2-last=Cohen |editor2-first=F. |editor3-last=De Concini |editor3-first=C. |editor4-last=Procesi |editor4-first=C. |editor5-last=Salvetti |editor5-first=M. |title=Configuration Spaces |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-88-7642-431-1_10 |language=en |location=Pisa |publisher=Scuola Normale Superiore |pages=231–253 |doi=10.1007/978-88-7642-431-1_10 |isbn=978-88-7642-431-1|arxiv=1006.3462 }}

Lehrer is perhaps best known for the invention of cellular algebras with John Graham, which provide a means of "deforming" structures which split into more complicated structures which do not. Cellular algebras have a range of applications in physics, including the theory of quantum groups.

In 2014, Lehrer solved the second fundamental problem of invariant theory of the orthogonal group, which had remained unsolved for 75 years. The problem involved the relationship between different quantities that remain the same after undergoing geometric transformation.{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=J.-Wire |date=2014-11-25 |title=Gus Lehrer solves a 75-yr-old mathematical question |url=https://www.jwire.com.au/gus-lehrer-solves-75-yr-old-mathematical-question/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=J-Wire |language=en}}

He was made a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1998, and received an Australian Research Council senior fellowship from 1999-2004.{{Cite web |title=Prof. Dr. Gustav I. Lehrer |url=https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/connect/explore-the-humboldt-network/singleview/1066226/prof-dr-gustav-i-lehrer |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=www.humboldt-foundation.de |language=en}} Lehrer was granted the Humboldt research award in 1999. In 2001, he won the Centenary medal "for service to Australian society and science in pure mathematics."{{Cite web |title=Dr Gustav Isaac Lehrer |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1126070 |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=Australian Honours Search Facility}} In 2005, he was made a professorial fellow of the Australian Research Council.{{Cite web |title=Geometric structures in representation theory |url=https://researchdata.edu.au/geometric-structures-representation-theory/70484 |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=Research Data Australia |language=en}} Lehrer also received a visiting fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford.{{Cite web |title=Mathematics {{!}} All Souls College |url=https://www.asc.ox.ac.uk/mathematics-0 |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=www.asc.ox.ac.uk}} He received the Hannan medal in 2015.{{Cite web |date=2018-04-08 |title=Alan McIntosh awarded the 2015 Hannan Medal for research in pure mathematics {{!}} MSI |url=http://maths.anu.edu.au/about-us/news/alan-mcintosh-awarded-2015-hannan-medal-research-pure-mathematics |access-date=2025-01-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408190506/http://maths.anu.edu.au/about-us/news/alan-mcintosh-awarded-2015-hannan-medal-research-pure-mathematics |archive-date=8 April 2018 }} In 2016, Lehrer became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for "significant service to tertiary mathematics education (as an academic and researcher), and to professional and community groups."{{Cite web |title=Honours and awards to Fellows {{!}} Australian Academy of Science |url=https://www.science.org.au/academy-newsletter/australian-academy-science-newsletter-103/honours-and-awards-fellows |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=www.science.org.au |language=en}}{{cite web |title=The Order of Australia |url=https://www.gg.gov.au/australian-honours-and-awards/order-australia |website=

The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia |access-date=2025-02-11}}

Volume 311 of the Journal of Algebra was dedicated to Lehrer on his 60th birthday in 2009.

Lehrer is married to Nanna Lehrer with three children; Lisa, Alex, and Eddie.

• Gustav Lehrer, Ruibin Zhang, The Brauer category and invariant theory, Journal of the European Mathematical Society 2015
• Gustav Lehrer, Donald E. Taylor, Unitary Reflection Groups, Australian Mathematical Society Lecture Series 20, Cambridge University Press 2009
• John J. Graham, Gustav Lehrer, The representation theory of affine Temperley-Lieb algebras, Enseignement Mathematique 1998
• John J. Graham, Gustav Lehrer, Cellular Algebras, Inventiones Mathematicae 1996
• Gustav Leher, Louis Solomon, On the action of the symmetric group on the cohomology of the complement of its reflecting hyperplanes, Journal of Algebra 1986
• Robert Howlett, Gustav Lehrer, Induced cuspidal representations and generalised Hecke rings, Inventiones Mathematicae 1980

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Category:1947 births

Category:Living people

Category:Members of the Order of Australia

Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science

Category:Australian mathematicians