Andrew Alexander Ranicki (born Andrzej Aleksander Ranicki; 30 December 1948 – 21 February 2018) was a British

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

who worked on

algebraic topology Algebraic topology is a branch of mathematics that uses tools from abstract algebra to study topological spaces. The basic goal is to find algebraic invariant (mathematics), invariants that classification theorem, classify topological spaces up t ...

. He was a professor of mathematics at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

Life

Ranicki was the only child of the well-known literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki and the artist Teofila Reich-Ranicki; he spoke Polish in his family. Born in London, he lived in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, and attended school in England at the

King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school and is considered to be the oldest continuously op ...

from the age of sixteen.'Cambridge Tripos: English; Medical Sciences; Mathematics', ''Times'', 20 June 1969. Ranicki studied Mathematics at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, and graduated with a BA in 1969. At Cambridge, he was a student of topologists Andrew Casson and John Frank Adams. He earned his doctoral degree in 1973 with a thesis on

algebra Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...

L-theory In mathematics, algebraic ''L''-theory is the ''K''-theory of quadratic forms; the term was coined by C. T. C. Wall, with ''L'' being used as the letter after ''K''. Algebraic ''L''-theory, also known as "Hermitian ''K''-theory", is important in ...

. Ranicki received numerous awards and honors for his scientific achievements during his studies. From 1972 to 1977, he was a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of Trinity College. From 1977 to 1982, he was assistant professor at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. In 1982, he began at the University of Edinburgh as a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

; in 1987, he was promoted to reader. In 1992, he became a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. From 1995, Ranicki was the Chair of Algebraic Surgery at the University of Edinburgh. Several times, he stayed as a visiting scientist at the

Max Planck Institute for Mathematics The Max Planck Institute for Mathematics (, MPIM) is a research institute located in Bonn, Germany. It is named in honor of the German physicist Max Planck and forms part of the Max Planck Society (''Max-Planck-Gesellschaft''), an association o ...

in Bonn, most recently in 2011.

Personal life, death, and legacy

Ranicki was married to American paleontologist Ida Thompson in 1979; they have a daughter. Ranicki suffered from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

; he died peacefully in the presence of his wife. Thomas Anz
Obituary of Andrew Ranicki
literaturkritik.de, February 22, 2018. A conference celebrating his legacy was held at the

International Centre for Mathematical Sciences The International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS) is a mathematical research centre based in Edinburgh. According to its website, the centre is "designed to bring together mathematicians and practitioners in science, industry and comme ...

(Edinburgh) in summer 2020.

Published works

* ''Exact sequences in the algebraic theory of surgery,'' Princeton University Press, 1981. * ''Lower K and L Theory'', London Mathematical Society Lecture Notes, Vol. 178, Cambridge University Press. 1992. * ''Algebraic L-Theory and Topological Manifolds'', Cambridge Tracts in Mathematics Vol. 102, Cambridge University Press, 1992. * ''Algebraic and Geometric Surgery'', Oxford University Press, 2002. * ''High dimensional knot theory '', Springer, 1998. * with Bruce Hughes: '' Ends of Complexes '', Cambridge Tracts in Mathematics Vol. 123, Cambridge University Press, 1996. * with Norman Levitt and Frank Quinn: "Algebraic and geometric topology" (Rutgers University conference, New Brunswick, 1983), Springer 1985, Lecture Notes in Mathematics Vol. 1126. * Editor with David W. Lewis and Eva Bayer-Fluckiger: "Quadratic forms and their applications" (Conference Dublin 1999), Contemporary Mathematics Vol. 272, American Mathematical Society, 2000. * Publisher: '' Noncommutative Localization in Algebra and Topology '', London Mathematical Society Vol. 330, Cambridge University Press, 2006. * Editor with Steven Ferry and Jonathan Rosenberg: "The Novikov conjectures, index theorems and rigidity" (Oberwolfach, 1993), London Mathematical Society Lecture Notes, Vol. 226, 227, Cambridge University Press, 1995. * Editor: ''The Hauptvermutung Book'', Kluwer, 1996. * Editor with

Sylvain Cappell Sylvain Edward Cappell (born 1946), a Belgian American mathematician and former student of William Browder at Princeton University, is a topologist who has spent most of his career at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU, where h ...

and Jonathan Rosenberg: '' Surveys on surgery theory. Papers dedicated to C.T. C. Wall.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranicki, Andrew 1948 births 2018 deaths Deaths from leukemia in England 20th-century British mathematicians Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Whitehead Prize winners Academics of the University of Edinburgh Princeton University faculty British people of German-Jewish descent British people of Polish-Jewish descent Scientists from London British topologists English expatriates in Poland English expatriates in Germany English expatriates in the United States