Pamela Liebeck (née Lawrence, 1930–2012) was a British mathematician and mathematics educator, the author of two books on mathematics.

Life

Liebeck was born in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

on 11 July 1930, grew up in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, and read mathematics at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

beginning in 1949. At Oxford, she also played on the cricket and tennis teams. After additional study at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, she became a mathematics teacher. Her husband Hans Liebeck was also an Oxford mathematics student; they met through a shared love of playing chamber music, married in 1953, and moved together to

Cape Town University The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest university in South Afri ...

in South Africa in 1955, where Liebeck taught mathematics part-time while raising two children and studying music. In 1961, Liebeck and her husband returned to England. As their (now three) children grew old enough, she returned to teaching, first at the Madeley College of Education in

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is adjacent to the city of Stoke-on-Trent. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the population ...

(eventually part of

Staffordshire University The University of Staffordshire is a public research university in Staffordshire, England. It has its main campus in Stoke-on-Trent and four other campuses in Stafford, Lichfield, Shrewsbury, and London. History In 1901, industrialist Alfred ...

) and then at

Keele University Keele University is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it was granted uni ...

, where her husband had been posted since their return to England. Her son, Martin W. Liebeck, became a mathematics professor at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

. She died on 3 July 2012.

Books

Liebeck wrote two books on mathematics: *''Vectors and Matrices'' (Pergamon, 1971) *''How Children Learn Mathematics: A Guide for Parents and Teachers'' (Penguin, 1984)

References

External links

''How Children Learn Mathematics''
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

''Vectors and Matrices''
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liebeck, Pamela 1930 births 2012 deaths British mathematicians British women mathematicians British mathematics educators Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford