Peter M. Neumann
{{short description|British mathematician (1940–2020)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Peter M. Neumann
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}}
| image = Peter-Neumann.JPG
| caption = Neumann in 2008
| birth_name = Peter Michael Neumann
| birth_date = {{birth date|1940|12|28|df=y}}
| birth_place = Oxford, England{{cite web| url=http://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/academics/neumann/ | title=Dr Peter M Neumann, O.B.E. | publisher=The Queen's College, Oxford | accessdate=2009-06-26 }}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2020|12|18|1940|12|28}}
| death_place = Oxford, England
| field = Algebra
| workplaces = University of Oxford
| known_for =
| doctoral_advisor = Graham Higman
| doctoral_students = {{plainlist|1=
}}
| awards = Senior Whitehead Prize (2003)
David Crighton Medal (2012)
| website = [https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/people/peter.neumann www.maths.ox.ac.uk]
| education = University of Oxford (BA, DPhil)
}}
Peter Michael Neumann OBE (28 December 1940 – 18 December 2020){{Cite web|last=Leddy|first=Dorothy|date=2020|title=M500 298|url=https://m500.org.uk/magazine/|page=21}} was a British mathematician. His fields of interest included the history of mathematics and Galois theory.
Biography
Born in December 1940, Neumann was a son of the German-born mathematicians Bernhard Neumann and Hanna Neumann. He gained a BA degree from The Queen's College, Oxford in 1963, and a DPhil degree from the University of Oxford in 1966. On completing his doctrate, Neumann was named a Tutorial Fellow at the Queen's College, Oxford, and in 1967 he became a lecturer at the University of Oxford.{{cite journal
| last1 = Liebeck | first1 = Martin W.
| last2 = Praeger | first2 = Cheryl E.
| date = July 2022
| doi = 10.1112/blms.12690
| issue = 4
| journal = Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society
| pages = 1487–1514
| publisher = Wiley
| title = Peter Michael Neumann, 1940–2020
| volume = 54}} His research work was in the field of group theory. In 1987, Neumann won the Lester R. Ford Award of the Mathematical Association of America for his review of Harold Edwards' book Galois Theory.[http://www.maa.org/awards/ford.html The Lester R. Ford Award], MAA, retrieved 2010-02-01.{{cite journal|year=1986|title=Book Review of Galois Theory by Harold M. Edwards|url=http://www.maa.org/programs/maa-awards/writing-awards/book-review-of-galois-theory-by-harold-m-edwards|journal=Amer. Math. Monthly|volume=93|pages=407–411|doi=10.2307/2323619|jstor=2323619}}
He was the first Chairman of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust, from October 1996 to April 2004, succeeded by Bernard Silverman.{{cite book|title=The UK Mathematics Trust Yearbook 2003–2004|publisher=United Kingdom Mathematics Trust|year=2004|isbn=0953682358}}
Neumann showed in 1997 that Alhazen's problem (reflecting a light ray off a spherical mirror to hit a target) cannot be solved with a straightedge and compass construction. Although the solution is a straightforward application of Galois theory it settles the constructibility of one of the last remaining geometric construction problems posed in antiquity.{{Cite journal|last=Highfield|first=Roger|date=1 April 1997|title=Don solves the last puzzle left by ancient Greeks|url=http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Obits2/Al-Haytham_Telegraph.html|journal=Electronic Telegraph|volume=676|accessdate=2012-11-19}}
In 2003, the London Mathematical Society awarded him the Senior Whitehead Prize.{{cite web
|url=http://www.lms.ac.uk/activities/prizes_com/pastwinners.html#swhitehead
|title=List of Prizewinners
|publisher=London Mathematical Society
|accessdate=2007-07-08
|archive-date=17 December 2005
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051217180519/http://www.lms.ac.uk/activities/prizes_com/pastwinners.html#swhitehead
|url-status=dead
}} He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.{{cite web| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/29_12_07_hons_queen.pdf | title=Officers of the Order of the British Empire | work=BBC News | publisher=BBC | location=UK | pages=32 | accessdate=27 January 2010 }}
After retiring in 2008, he became an Emeritus Fellow at the Queen's College.
Neumann's work in the history of mathematics includes his 2011 publication The Mathematical Writings of Évariste Galois, an English language book on the work of French mathematician Évariste Galois (1811–1832).{{cite book|last=Neumann|first=Peter M.|title=The Mathematical Writings of Évariste Galois|date=2011|publisher=European Mathematical Society|isbn=978-3037191040|series=Heritage of European Mathematics}} Neumann was a long-standing supporter of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, whose Neumann Prize is named in his honour.{{cite web|title=Neumann Prize|url=https://www.bshm.ac.uk/neumann-prize|access-date=2020-12-18|publisher=British Society for the History of Mathematics|location=UK}}
Neumann was the president of the Mathematical Association from 2015 to 2016.
Neumann died from COVID-19 on 18 December 2020, ten days before his 80th birthday, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.{{cite web|url=https://www.lms.ac.uk/news-entry/21122020-0842/dr-peter-neumann-1940-2020|date=21 December 2020|accessdate=31 December 2020|title=Dr Peter Neumann (1940–2020)|work=News|publisher=London Mathematical Society}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/04/peter-neumann-obituary|title= Peter Neumann obituary |last=Neumann|first=David|work=The Guardian|date=4 January 2021|access-date=11 January 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://cameroncounts.wordpress.com/2020/12/18/peter-neumann/|website=Peter Cameron's blog|last=Cameron|first=Peter|authorlink=Peter Cameron (mathematician)|title=Peter Neumann|date=18 December 2020|accessdate=22 December 2020}}
Personal life
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Peter Neumann}}
- [https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/people/peter.neumann Home page] at the Mathematical Institute, Oxford
- [https://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/academics/neumann Home page] at The Queen's College, Oxford
- {{MathGenealogy|id=28732}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neumann, Peter M.}}
Category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England
Category:Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford
Category:20th-century English mathematicians
Category:21st-century English mathematicians
Category:British historians of mathematics
Category:Fellows of the Queen's College, Oxford
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:David Crighton medalists
Category:English people of German descent