Wilfrid Augustine Hodges, FBA (born 27 May 1941) is 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, structure, space, models, and change. History ...

and

logician Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

known for his work in

model theory In mathematical logic, model theory is the study of the relationship between formal theories (a collection of sentences in a formal language expressing statements about a mathematical structure), and their models (those structures in which the ...

Life

Hodges attended

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at t ...

(1959–65), where he received degrees in both '' Literae Humaniores'' and (Christianic)

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing t ...

. In 1970 he was awarded a doctorate for a thesis in

Logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premi ...

. He lectured in both

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. S ...

and

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

at Bedford College, University of London. He has held visiting appointments in the department of philosophy at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Fr ...

and in the department of mathematics at

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of ...

. Hodges was Professor of Mathematics at Queen Mary College, University of London from 1987 to 2006 and is the author of books on

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premi ...

Honors and awards

Hodges was President of the British Logic Colloquium, of the European Association for Logic, Language and Information and of the Division of Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science. In 2009 he was elected a Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars s ...

Writing style

Hodges' books are written in an informal style. The "Notes on Notation" in his book "Model theory" end with the following characteristic sentence: :'I' means I, 'we' means we. When this 780-page book appeared in 1993, it became one of the standard textbooks on

. Due to its success an abbreviated version (but with a new chapter on

stability theory In mathematics, stability theory addresses the stability of solutions of differential equations and of trajectories of dynamical systems under small perturbations of initial conditions. The heat equation, for example, is a stable partial differ ...

) was published as a paperback.

Bibliography

''Only first editions are listed.'' * * * * *

References

External links

Home page of Wilfrid Hodges
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodges, Wilfrid 1941 births 20th-century British philosophers Academics of Queen Mary University of London Alumni of New College, Oxford British logicians 20th-century British mathematicians 21st-century British mathematicians Living people Model theorists University of California faculty University of Colorado faculty Fellows of the British Academy