Ian Stewart (mathematician)

Ian Nicholas Stewart was a British mathematician and a writer known for making math interesting and fun for many people. He was born on 24 September 1945 and became an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick in England.

Stewart was also famous for writing popular-science books, textbooks, and even science-fiction stories. He wanted to help everyone understand math better, and his books were read all around the world.

He was recognized for his work with several honors, including being a Fellow of the Royal Society FRS, a Chartered Mathematician CMath, and a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications FIMA. His writing made complex math ideas easier for people to grasp and enjoy.

Education and early life

Ian Stewart was born in 1945 in Folkestone, England. During his time in the sixth form at Harvey Grammar School in Folkestone, he stood out in mathematics. He was given a special challenge by his teacher and did very well. Because of this, he earned a scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge at Churchill College, Cambridge. There, he studied the Mathematical Tripos and earned a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics in 1966. He then continued his studies at the University of Warwick, where he completed his PhD on Lie algebras in 1969.

Career and research

Ian Stewart became a professor at the University of Warwick after finishing his PhD. He is famous for making math easy and fun to understand for everyone. He wrote many articles and books about math, including a column called "Mathematical Recreations" for Scientific American magazine. He also worked with famous authors to write science books based on the Discworld stories.

Stewart visited universities in Germany, New Zealand, and the United States. He wrote over 140 scientific papers and even created an app about numbers for people to learn from.

Publications

Ian Stewart has written many books about mathematics, science, and even some science fiction stories. His books make big ideas in math easier to understand for everyone.

He has written books such as Does God Play Dice? The New Mathematics of Chaos, The Mathematics of Life, and In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed the World. He also wrote a fun series called Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities and worked with famous authors on the Science of Discworld series.

Awards and honours

Ian Stewart received several important awards for his work. In 1995, he was given the Michael Faraday Medal. In 1997, he presented the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture called The Magical Maze. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001. In 2008, he was the first person to receive the Christopher Zeeman Medal from the London Mathematical Society and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications for his efforts in sharing mathematics with others.

Personal life

Ian Stewart married Avril in 1970. They first met at a party at a house Avril was renting while she trained as a nurse. The couple has two sons. In his free time, Stewart enjoys many hobbies including science fiction, painting, playing the guitar, keeping fish, geology, Egyptology, and snorkelling.