Nicholas Ian Shepherd-Barron, FRS (born 17 March 1955), 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 ...

working in algebraic geometry. He has been, since 2013, professor of mathematics at King's College London, having moved there from his previous position at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He is a fellow of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a 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 college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

Education

Shepherd-Barron was a scholar of

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

. He obtained his B.A. at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes f ...

in 1976, and studied for a Ph.D. at the

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (202 ...

under the supervision of

Miles Reid Miles Anthony Reid FRS (born 30 January 1948) is a mathematician who works in algebraic geometry. Education Reid studied the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos at Trinity College, Cambridge and obtained his Ph.D. in 1973 under the supervision of ...

, graduating in 1981.

Career and research

Shepherd-Barron works in various aspects of algebraic geometry, such as: singularities in the

minimal model program In algebraic geometry, the minimal model program is part of the birational classification of algebraic varieties. Its goal is to construct a birational model of any complex projective variety which is as simple as possible. The subject has its or ...

; compactification of

moduli space In mathematics, in particular algebraic geometry, a moduli space is a geometric space (usually a scheme or an algebraic stack) whose points represent algebro-geometric objects of some fixed kind, or isomorphism classes of such objects. Such ...

s; the rationality of orbit spaces, including the moduli spaces of curves of genus 4 and 6; the geography of algebraic surfaces in positive characteristic, including a proof of Raynaud's conjecture; canonical models of moduli spaces of abelian varieties; the Schottky problem at the boundary; the relation between algebraic groups and del Pezzo surfaces; the period map for elliptic surfaces. In 2008, with the number theorists Michael Harris and Richard Taylor, he proved the original version of the

Sato–Tate conjecture In mathematics, the Sato–Tate conjecture is a statistical statement about the family of elliptic curves ''Ep'' obtained from an elliptic curve ''E'' over the rational numbers by reduction modulo almost all prime numbers ''p''. Mikio Sato and ...

and its generalization to

totally real field In number theory, a number field ''F'' is called totally real if for each embedding of ''F'' into the complex numbers the image lies inside the real numbers. Equivalent conditions are that ''F'' is generated over Q by one root of an integer polyn ...

s, under mild assumptions.

Awards and honors

Shepherd-Barron was elected

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

in 2006.

Personal life

He is the son of

John Shepherd-Barron John Adrian Shepherd-Barron OBE (23 June 1925 – 15 May 2010) was an India-born British inventor, who led the team that installed the first cash machine, sometimes referred to as the automated teller machine or ATM. Early life John Adrian Shep ...

, a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

inventor, who was responsible for inventing the first

cash machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fund ...

in 1967.

Notes

References

1955 births Living people 20th-century British mathematicians 21st-century British mathematicians Algebraic geometers People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Academics of King's College London Professors of the University of Cambridge {{UK-mathematician-stub