Alexander Murray Macbeath
Murray Macbeath | |
|---|---|
 Murray Macbeath (right) with Wilhelm Kaup | |
| Born | Alexander Murray Macbeath 30 June 1923 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Died | 14 May 2014 (aged 90) Warwick, England |
| Alma mater | Queens University, Belfast (B.A.) Clare College, Cambridge (M.A.) Princeton University (Ph.D., 1950) |
| Occupation(s) | mathematician, professor |
| Known for | WWII codebreaking, MacBeath Surfaces, MacBeath Regions |
| Spouse | Julie (1952-his death) |
| Children | 2 |
Alexander Murray Macbeath (30 June 1923 Glasgow – 14 May 2014 Warwick)[1][2][3] was a mathematician who worked on Riemann surfaces. Macbeath surfaces and Macbeath regions are named after him.
Early life and education
[edit]Macbeath was the son of Alexander Macbeath, a philosopher and logician who took a position at Queen's University Belfast in 1925,[4] soon after Murray was born. Murray also studied at Queen's University, earning a B.A. with honours.[1]
During World War II, he worked in Hut 7 of the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, breaking ciphers used for military communications by the Japanese navy and, later, the army.[2]
After the war he earned an M.A. (again with honours) from Clare College, Cambridge. With a Commonwealth Fund fellowship, he then attended Princeton University,[1] where he earned his Ph.D. in 1950 under the supervision of Emil Artin.[5]
Career
[edit]He taught at Keele University and the University of Dundee before moving to the University of Birmingham in 1963 where he stayed until 1979 as Mason Professor,[3] then moved back to the University of Pittsburgh in the United States until he reached their statutory retirement age of 60.[1]
He subsequently took up a position at the University of Dundee where he remained for a number of years, before moving to Warwickshire where at the University of Warwick he held the position of Emeritus Professor of Mathematics.
Death
[edit]Professor Macbeath died on 14 May 2014 in Warwick, England.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Thomas, Campbell (2014), "Obituary: Professor Murray Macbeath, mathematician and wartime codebreaker", The Scotsman (Friday 27 June)
- ^ a b "Professor Murray MacBeath", The Times, Obituaries (Friday 27 June), 2014
- ^ a b Bill Harvey (1 July 2014), Murray Macbeath, London Mathematical Society, archived from the original on 28 December 2012, retrieved 6 July 2014
- ^ "Obituary: Professor Alexander MacBeath", Glasgow Herald, 16 December 1964.
- ^ Alexander Murray Macbeath at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
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