Geoffrey Charles Smith, MBE (born 1953) 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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

. He is Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

(where he works in

group theory In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as group (mathematics), groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as ring (mathematics), rings, field ( ...

) and current professor in residence at

Wells Cathedral School Wells Cathedral School is an independent co-educational boarding and day school for 2–18 year olds located in Wells, Somerset, Wells, Somerset, England, which provides an all-round education alongside specialist music and chorister training. T ...

. He was educated at Trinity School 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 ...

, and attended

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, University Museum a ...

, the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

, and the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, where he gained a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1983. Smith was the leader of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

team at the

International Mathematical Olympiad The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. It is widely regarded as the most prestigious mathematical competition in the wor ...

between 2002 and 2010, a longer continuous period than any other person. He returned to the position as leader of the British Mathematical Olympiad from 2013. Smith oversaw a quantitative increase in training: annual events in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

(moving to

The 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 ...

, from 2009), at

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire ...

, in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, 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 immediately prior to the IMO itself. He also thrice won the IMO Golden Microphone, awarded to the national team leader who makes the most speeches to the IMO Jury. In 2010, he was elected to the IMO Advisory Board for a four-year period. Smith was elected as the chair of the International Mathematical Olympiad for the term of 2014-2018 and was re-elected in 2018. Smith also prepared UK teams for the Romanian Masters in Mathematics tournament (which they won in 2008), and for participation as guests at the annual

Balkan Mathematical Olympiad The Balkan Mathematical Olympiad (BMO) is an international contest of winners of high-school national competitions from European countries. Participants (incomplete) * Albania ** BMO 1991: 1.Julian Mulla 2.Erion Dasho 3.Elton Bojaxhi 4.Enkel ...

. As well as group theory, he is also interested in

Euclidean geometry Euclidean geometry is a mathematical system attributed to ancient Greek mathematics, Greek mathematician Euclid, which he described in his textbook on geometry, ''Euclid's Elements, Elements''. Euclid's approach consists in assuming a small set ...

. He often collaborates with

Christopher Bradley Bagheera Bagheera is a black panther, based upon ''The Jungle Book'' character of the same name. Nakia Bahadir Nakia Bahadir is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is a Turkish girl and friend ...

and David Monk, and has published several papers on

Forum Geometricorum ''Forum Geometricorum: A Journal on Classical Euclidean Geometry'' was a peer-reviewed open-access academic journal that specialized in mathematical research papers on Euclidean geometry. Founded in 2001, it was published by Florida Atlantic Unive ...

, the online geometry journal. In June 2011, Smith was awarded an MBE for services to education following his contributions toward organising

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

Maths Masterclasses.

References

External links

Virtual Geoff SmithGeoff Smith on Midweek, 28 January 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Geoff 20th-century English mathematicians 21st-century English mathematicians Group theorists Academics of the University of Bath Alumni of the University of Manchester 1953 births Living people Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Members of the Order of the British Empire