Citizendia

Ian Stewart

Born1945, aged 62
England
FieldsMathematics
Alma materChurchill College, Cambridge
University of Warwick
Doctoral advisorBrian Hartley

Ian Nicholas Stewart, FRS (born 1945), is a professor of mathematics at University of Warwick, United Kingdom, and a well-known popular science and science fiction writer. Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Alma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother" It was used in Ancient Rome as a title for the mother Goddess, and in Medieval Churchill College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge and was founded in 1958 as the national and Commonwealth memorial to Winston The University of Warwick is a British Campus university located on the outskirts of Coventry, West Midlands, England and is A doctorate is an Academic degree that indicates the highest level of academic achievement Brian Hartley ( 15 May 1939 - 8 October 1994) was a British Mathematician specialising in Group theory. The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and The University of Warwick is a British Campus university located on the outskirts of Coventry, West Midlands, England and is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located

Contents

Biography

Ian Stewart was born in 1945 in England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland While in the sixth form at school, Stewart came to the attention of the mathematics teacher. The sixth form, in the English, Welsh and Northern Irish education systems Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Belize The teacher had Stewart sit mock A-level examinations without any preparation along with the upper-sixth students; Stewart placed first in the examination. The A-level, short for Advanced Level, is a General Certificate of Education qualification in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, This teacher arranged for Stewart to be admitted to Cambridge on a scholarship to Churchill College, where he obtained a BA in Mathematics. Churchill College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge and was founded in 1958 as the national and Commonwealth memorial to Winston Stewart then went to the University of Warwick for his PhD, on completion of which in 1969 he was offered an academic position. The University of Warwick is a British Campus university located on the outskirts of Coventry, West Midlands, England and is "PhD" redirects here for other uses see PhD (disambiguation. He is now Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick. He is one of the world's most famous mathematicians, with significant contributions to catastrophe theory. This article refers to the study of dynamical systems For other meanings see Catastrophe.

Stewart has held visiting academic positions in Germany (1974), New Zealand (1976), and the U. S. (University of Connecticut 1977–78, University of Houston 1983–84). The University of Connecticut ( Connecticut or UConn) is the State of Connecticut 's Land-grant university. The University of Houston (often referred to as " U of H," " UH," or " Houston " is a public doctoral/research

In 1995 Stewart received the Michael Faraday Medal and in 1997 he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. The Michael Faraday Prize is a Science Award given annually by the Royal Society. The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures have been held in London annually since 1825 He was elected to the Royal Society in 2001. The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660

He has collaborated with Dr Jack Cohen and Terry Pratchett on three popular science books based on Pratchett's Discworld. Jack Cohen, FIBiol (born 19 September 1933) is a British reproductive biologist also known for his popular science books Terence David John Pratchett, OBE (born 28 April 1948 is an English fantasy, Science fiction, and children's author. For the 1935-1949 film series see Popular Science (film. Popular Science is an American monthly Magazine founded in 1872 Discworld is a comedic Fantasy Book series by the British author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat In 1999 Terry Pratchett made both Jack Cohen and Professor Ian Stewart "Honorary Wizards of the Unseen University" at the same ceremony at which the University of Warwick gave Terry Pratchett an honorary degree. Terence David John Pratchett, OBE (born 28 April 1948 is an English fantasy, Science fiction, and children's author. Jack Cohen, FIBiol (born 19 September 1933) is a British reproductive biologist also known for his popular science books

Stewart has published over 140 scientific papers, including a series of influential papers co-authored with Jim Collins on coupled oscillators and the symmetry of animal gaits. James J Collins ( June 26, 1965) is an American Bioengineer, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University, and a Howard

Stewart married his wife Avril in 1970. They met at a party at a house Avril was renting while she trained as a nurse. They have two sons.

Bibliography

Ian Stewart has published in many journals including Scientific American, New Scientist, and Nature. Scientific American is a Popular science magazine, published (first weekly and later monthly since August 28, 1845, making it New Scientist is a weekly International science magazine and website covering recent developments in science and technology for a general English -speaking Nature is a prominent Scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869 He has also authored or co-authored many books.

Books authored or co-authored by Ian Stewart

Select quotations

"[S]cience is the best defense against believing what we want to. "
"Lawyers have a concept known as 'fungibility'. Fungibility is the property of a good or a Commodity whose individual units are capable of mutual substitution Things are fungible if substituting one for another has no legal implications. For example, cans of baked beans with the same manufacturer and the same nominal weight are fungible: you have no legal complaint if the shop substitutes a different can when the assistant notices that the one you've just bought is dented. The fact that the new can contains 1,346 beans, whereas the old one contained 1,347, is legally irrelevant.
That's what `take as given' means, too. Explanations that climb the reductionist hierarchy are cascades of fungibilities. Reductionism can either mean (a an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of their parts or to simpler or more fundamental things Such explanations are comprehensible, and thus convincing, only because each stage in the story relies only upon particular simple features of the previous stage. The complicated details a level or two down do not need to be carried upwards indefinitely. Such features are intellectual resting-points in the chain of logic. Examples include the observation that atoms can be assembled into many complex structures, making molecules possible, and the complicated but elegant geometry of the DNA double helix that permits the `encoding' of complex `instructions' for making organisms. Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) is a Nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known The story can then continue with the computational abilities of DNA coding, onward and upward to goats, without getting enmeshed in the quantum wave functions of amino acids. A wave function or wavefunction is a mathematical tool used in Quantum mechanics to describe any physical system In Chemistry, an amino acid is a Molecule containing both Amine and Carboxyl Functional groups In Biochemistry, this
What we tend to forget, when told a story with this structure, is that it could have had many different beginnings. Anything that lets us start from the molecular level would have done just as well. A totally different subatomic theory would be an equally valid starting-point for the story, provided it led to the same general feature of a replicable molecule. Subatomic particle theory is fungible when viewed from the level of goats. It has to be, or else we would never be able to keep a goat without first doing a Ph. D. in subatomic physics. A subatomic particle is an elementary or composite Particle smaller than an Atom. "

External links

The Mathematics Genealogy Project is a web-based Database that gives an Academic genealogy based on Dissertation supervision relations
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