David William Masser (born 8 November 1948) is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

. He is known for his work in

transcendental number theory Transcendental number theory is a branch of number theory that investigates transcendental numbers (numbers that are not solutions of any polynomial equation with rational coefficients), in both qualitative and quantitative ways. Transcendenc ...

Diophantine approximation In number theory, the study of Diophantine approximation deals with the approximation of real numbers by rational numbers. It is named after Diophantus of Alexandria. The first problem was to know how well a real number can be approximated ...

, and

Diophantine geometry In mathematics, Diophantine geometry is the study of Diophantine equations by means of powerful methods in algebraic geometry. By the 20th century it became clear for some mathematicians that methods of algebraic geometry are ideal tools to study ...

. With

Joseph Oesterlé Joseph Oesterlé (born 1954) is a French mathematician who, along with David Masser, formulated the ''abc'' conjecture which has been called "the most important unsolved problem in diophantine analysis". He is a member of Bourbaki Bourbaki(s) m ...

in 1985, Masser formulated the

abc conjecture ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, which has been called "the most important unsolved problem in

Diophantine analysis ''Diophantine'' means pertaining to the ancient Greek mathematician Diophantus. A number of concepts bear this name: *Diophantine approximation *Diophantine equation *Diophantine quintuple In number theory, a diophantine -tuple is a set of p ...

"..

Early life and education

Masser was born on 8 November 1948 in London, England. He graduated from

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

with a B.A. (Hons) in 1970. In 1974, he obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, with a doctoral thesis under the supervision of Alan Baker titled ''Elliptic Functions and Transcendence''.

Career

Masser was a Lecturer at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

from 1973 to 1975, before spending the 1975–1976 year as a Research Fellow of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. He returned to the University of Nottingham to serve as a Lecturer from 1976 to 1979 and then as a Reader from 1979 to 1983. He was a professor at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

from 1983 to 1992. He then moved to the Mathematics Institute at the

and became emeritus there in 2014.

Research

Masser's research focuses on

, and

. The ''abc'' conjecture originated as the outcome of attempts by Oesterlé and Masser to understand the Szpiro conjecture about

elliptic curve In mathematics, an elliptic curve is a smooth, projective, algebraic curve of genus one, on which there is a specified point . An elliptic curve is defined over a field and describes points in , the Cartesian product of with itself. If the ...

s..

Awards

Masser was an

invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians An invitation system is a method of encouraging people to join an organization, such as a Club (organization), club or a website. In regular society, it refers to any system whereby new members are chosen; they cannot simply apply. In relation to w ...

in Warsaw in 1983. In 1991, he received the

Humboldt Prize The Humboldt Research Award (), also known informally as the Humboldt Prize, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of Germany in recognition of ...

. He was elected as 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 2005. In 2014, he was elected as a Member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

References

1948 births Living people 20th-century British mathematicians 21st-century British mathematicians Number theorists Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society University of Michigan faculty Academic staff of the University of Basel Abc conjecture Members of Academia Europaea {{UK-mathematician-stub

Early life and education

Career

Research

Awards

See also

References