Robin Gandy

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Robin Gandy

|birth_name = Robin Oliver Gandy

|image =

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|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1919|09|22}}

|birth_place = Rotherfield Peppard, Oxfordshire, England

|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1995|11|20|1919|09|22}}

|death_place = Oxford, England

|citizenship =

|nationality = British

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|fields = Mathematical logic

|workplaces = {{Plainlist|

|education = Abbotsholme School

|alma_mater = University of Cambridge (PhD)

|doctoral_advisor = Alan Turing{{MathGenealogy|id=36415}}

|thesis_title = On Axiomatic Systems in Mathematics and Theories in Physics

|thesis_url = https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.16125

|thesis_year = 1953

|academic_advisors =

|doctoral_students = {{Plainlist|

Martin Hyland{{cite thesis|degree=DPhil|publisher=University of Oxford|title=Recursion Theory on the Countable Functionals|first= John Martin Elliott|last=Hyland|date=1975|url=http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/OXVU1:LSCOP_OX:oxfaleph019876351|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.460247}}|website=bodleian.ox.ac.uk|oclc=}}
Jane Kister
Jeff Paris}}

|notable_students =

|known_for = Recursion theory

|influences =

|influenced =

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}}

Robin Oliver Gandy (22 September 1919 – 20 November 1995) was a British mathematician and logician.{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaryrobin-gandy-1583406.html | title=Obituary: Robin Gandy | work=The Independent | date=24 November 1995 | accessdate=1 January 2012 | author=Yates, Mike}} He was a friend, student, and associate of Alan Turing, having been supervised by Turing during his PhD at the University of Cambridge,{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Cambridge|title=On axiomatic systems in mathematics and theories in physics|first= Robin Oliver|last=Gandy|date=1953|url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/245090|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.590164}}|website=repository.cam.ac.uk|doi=10.17863/CAM.16125}} {{free access}} where they worked together.{{cite book | authorlink= Andrew Hodges | last=Hodges | first=Andrew | title=Alan Turing: The Enigma | publisher= Simon & Schuster | year=1983 | isbn=0-671-49207-1| title-link=Alan Turing: The Enigma }}{{cite journal |date=March 1996 |title=Notices |journal=The Bulletin of Symbolic Logic |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=121–125 |jstor=421052 |doi=10.1017/s1079898600007988|s2cid=246638427 }}{{cite journal |date=September 1996 |title=In Memoriam: Robin Oliver Gandy, 1919–1995 |journal=The Bulletin of Symbolic Logic |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=367–370 |author1=Moschovakis, Yannis |author2=Yates, Mike |name-list-style=amp |jstor=420996 |doi=10.1017/s1079898600007873|s2cid=120785678 |doi-access=free }}

Education and early life

Robin Gandy was born in the village of Rotherfield Peppard, Oxfordshire, England. A great-great-grandson of the architect and artist Joseph Gandy (1771–1843), he was the son of Thomas Hall Gandy (1876–1948), a general practitioner, and Ida Caroline née Hony (1885–1977), a social worker and later an author.{{Cite web|title=Ida Gandy - Writer|url=http://aldbourneheritage.org.uk/village-history/wholived/ida-gandy-writer|access-date=2021-04-07|website=Aldbourne Heritage Centre|language=en-GB}} His brother was the diplomat Christopher Gandy and his sister was the physician Gillian Gandy.{{cite journal | title=Obituary: Gillian Gandy | journal=BMJ | date=2 June 2016 | doi=10.1136/bmj.i3106 | pmid=27256283 | last1=Morley | first1=C. | last2=Cursiter | first2=J. | volume=353 | pages=i3106 | s2cid=41777853 }}

Educated at Abbotsholme School in Derbyshire, Gandy took two years of the Mathematical Tripos, at King's College, Cambridge, before enlisting for military service in 1940. During World War II he worked on radio intercept equipment at Hanslope Park, where Alan Turing was working on a speech encipherment project, and he became one of Turing's lifelong friends and associates. In 1946, he completed Part III of the Mathematical Tripos, then began studying for a PhD under Turing's supervision. He completed his thesis, On axiomatic systems in mathematics and theories in Physics, in 1952. He was a member of the Cambridge Apostles.{{cite web | url=https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/node/7584 | title=Wolfson College salutes Robin Gandy on his centenary | Wolfson College, Oxford }}

Career and research

Gandy held positions at the University of Leicester, the University of Leeds, and the University of Manchester. He was a visiting associate professor at Stanford University from 1966 to 1967 and held a similar position at University of California, Los Angeles in 1968. In 1969, he moved to Wolfson College, Oxford, where he became Reader in Mathematical Logic.

Gandy is known for his work in recursion theory. His contributions include the Spector–Gandy theorem, the Gandy Stage Comparison theorem, and the Gandy Selection theorem. He also made a significant contribution to the understanding of the Church–Turing thesis, and his generalisation of the Turing machine is called a Gandy machine.[https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/philosophy/docs/tech-reports/175_Sieg.pdf Wilfried Sieg, 2005, Church without dogma: axioms for computability, Carnegie Mellon University]

Gandy died in Oxford, England on 20 November 1995.[http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/scrapbook/robin.html Robin Gandy — The Alan Turing Scrapbook], [https://archive.today/20121224171734/http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/scrapbook/robin.html archived] at Archive.Today

Legacy

The Robin Gandy Buildings, a pair of accommodation blocks at Wolfson College, Oxford, are named after Gandy.{{cite web| url=https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/gallery/accommodation-types | title=Accommodation types – Robin Gandy Buildings | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | location=UK | accessdate=14 April 2020 }}{{cite web| url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/stommy/2502650192/ | title=Robin Gandy Buildings, Wolfson | publisher=Flickr | accessdate=1 January 2012 | date=6 April 2008 }} A one-day centenary Gandy Colloquium was held on 22 February 2020 at the College in Gandy's honour, including contributions by some of his students;{{cite web| url=https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/event/gandy-colloquium-0 | title=The Gandy Colloquium | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | location=UK | date=22 February 2020 | accessdate=14 April 2020 }}{{cite web| url=https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/content/wolfson-college-salutes-robin-gandy-his-centenary | title=Wolfson College salutes Robin Gandy on his centenary | first=Daniel | last=Isaacson | publisher=Wolfson College, Oxford | location=UK | date=2020 | accessdate=14 April 2020 }} the speakers were Marianna Antonutti Marfori (Munich), Andrew Hodges (Oxford), Martin Hyland (Cambridge), Jeff Paris (Manchester), Göran Sundholm (Leiden), Christine Tasson (Paris), and Philip Welch (Bristol).