John Greenlees Semple (10 June 1904 in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Ireland – 23 October 1985 in

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) was a British mathematician working in

algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which uses abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, to solve geometry, geometrical problems. Classically, it studies zero of a function, zeros of multivariate polynomials; th ...

Academic Career

He attended the

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today ...

, and then received an undergraduate degree from

Queen's University, Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

, graduating in 1925 with First Class honours in mathematics. After this he went to Cambridge where he sat the

Mathematical Tripos The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. Origin In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was a di ...

of 1927, gaining a distinction, and went on to study for a doctorate at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, where he was taught by

H. F. Baker Henry Frederick Baker Royal Society, FRS Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (3 July 1866 – 17 March 1956) was a British mathematician, working mainly in algebraic geometry, but also remembered for contributions to partial differential equations ...

, which was awarded in 1930. He won the Rayleigh Prize in 1929, and became a lecturer 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 ...

for a year. He was briefly elected a fellow of St John's College, before taking the position of Chair of Pure Mathematics at Queen's University, Belfast in 1930. He held the position for six years, remaining active as both a researcher and an administrator, and became Dean of the Faculty of the Arts. In 1936 he became Chair of Pure Mathematics at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

- leading the department through its relocation to Bristol during WWII - and in 1956 was made Head of Mathematics at the same institution, continuing until his retirement in 1969.

Personal life

Semple was the third of his parents' five children; two of his siblings also became professors in British universities. He married Daphne Hummel, the daughter of a colleague, in Belfast. They had two children, John and Jessie, who entered medicine and the arts respectively. He enjoyed reading, gardening and golf.

Publications

* *Algebraic Projective Geometry. By J. G. Semple and G. T. Kneebone. Pp. viii, 404. 35s. 1952. (Oxford University Press).

References

20th-century British mathematicians Scientists from Belfast 20th-century mathematicians from Northern Ireland 1904 births 1985 deaths {{UK-mathematician-stub