Alexander Murray MacBeath
Alexander Murray MacBeath | |
|---|---|
Murray MacBeath (right) with Wilhelm Kaup | |
| Born | Alexander Murray MacBeath 30 June 1923 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Died | 14 May 2014 (aged 90) Warwick, England |
| Alma mater | Queens University, Belfast (B.A.) Clare College, Cambridge (M.A.) Princeton University (Ph.D., 1950) |
| Occupations | mathematician, professor |
| Known for | WWII codebreaking, MacBeath Surfaces, MacBeath Regions |
| Spouse | Julie (1952-his death) |
| Children | 2 |
Alexander Murray MacBeath (30 June 1923 Glasgow – 14 May 2014 Warwick)[1][2][3] was a Scottish 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,[4] soon after Murray was born. Murray also studied at Queen's University, earning a B.A. with honours in 1943.[1]
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.[5]
He earned an M.A. (again with honours) from Clare College, Cambridge in 1948. With a Commonwealth Fund fellowship, he then attended Princeton University,[1] where he earned his Ph.D. on "The Geometry of Non-Homogeneous Lattices" in 1950 under the supervision of Emil Artin.[6]
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,[3] then moved back to the University of Pittsburgh in the United States until he reached their statutory retirement age of 60.[1]
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
- ^ a b c d Thomas, Campbell (2014), "Obituary: Professor Murray MacBeath, mathematician and wartime codebreaker", The Scotsman (Friday 27 June)
- ^ Professor Murray MacBeath, The Times, Friday 27 June 2014
- ^ a b Harvey, Bill (July 2014), "Murray Macbeath", LMS Newsletter, London Mathematical Society – via MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
- ^ "Obituary: Professor Alexander MacBeath", Glasgow Herald, 16 December 1964.
- ^ Alexander Murray Macbeath at MacTutor University of St Andrews
- ^ Alexander Murray MacBeath at the Mathematics Genealogy Project