Ioan Mackenzie James FRS (23 May 1928 – 21 February 2025) was a British mathematician working in the field of

topology Topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of a Mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformat ...

, particularly in

homotopy theory In mathematics, homotopy theory is a systematic study of situations in which Map (mathematics), maps can come with homotopy, homotopies between them. It originated as a topic in algebraic topology, but nowadays is learned as an independent discipli ...

Life and career

James was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and was educated at

St Paul's School, London St Paul's School is a Selective school, selective Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent day school (with limited boarding school, boarding) for boys aged 13–18, founded in 1509 by John Colet and located on a 43-acre site by Rive ...

and

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

. In 1953 he earned a D. Phil. from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

for his thesis entitled ''Some problems in algebraic topology'', written under the direction of J. H. C. Whitehead. In 1957 he was appointed reader in pure mathematics, a post which he held until 1969. From 1959 until 1969 he was a senior research fellow at St John's College, Oxford. He held the Savilian Chair of Geometry at the University of Oxford from 1970 to 1995. He was a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

, and later an honorary fellow of St John's. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1968. In 1978 the

London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's Learned society, learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh ...

awarded him the

Senior Whitehead Prize The Senior Whitehead Prize of the London Mathematical Society (LMS) is now awarded in odd numbered years in memory of John Henry Constantine Whitehead, president of the LMS between 1953 and 1955. The Prize is awarded to mathematicians normally r ...

, which was established in honour of his doctoral supervisor, Whitehead. In 1984 he became President of the

. James married Rosemary Stewart, a writer and researcher in business management and healthcare management, in 1961. She died in 2015, aged 90. James died on 21 February 2025, aged 96.

Books

*, ''Topologies and Uniformities'' (Springer Undergraduate Mathematics Series), Springer, 1999. *, ''Remarkable Mathematicians, From Euler to von Neumann'', Cambridge University Press, 2002. *, ''Remarkable Physicists: From Galileo to Yukawa'', Cambridge University Press, 2004. *, '' Asperger's Syndrome And High Achievement: Some Very Remarkable People'', Jessica Kingsley Pub, 2005. *, ''The Mind of the Mathematician'', JHU Press, 2007. *, ''Driven to Innovate: A Century of Jewish Mathematicians and Physicists'', Peter Lang Oxford, 2009. *, ''Remarkable Biologists: From Ray to Hamilton'', Cambridge University Press, 2009. *, ''Remarkable Engineers: From Riquet to Shannon'', Cambridge University Press, 2010.

References

External links

* * 1928 births 2025 deaths English mathematicians Fellows of New College, Oxford Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society British historians of mathematics British historians of science Savilian Professors of Geometry British topologists {{UK-mathematician-stub

Life and career

Books

See also

References

External links