Frances Kirwan
Frances Kirwan DBE FRS | |
---|---|
Born | 1959 (age 61–62) |
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
Awards | Whitehead Prize (1989) Senior Whitehead Prize (2013) Suffrage Science award (2016) Sylvester Medal of The Royal Society(2021) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mathematics |
Institutions | University of Oxford |
Doctoral advisor | Michael Atiyah |
Dame Frances Clare Kirwan, DBE FRS (born 1959) is a British mathematician, currently Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford. Her fields of specialisation are algebraic and symplectic geometry.[1][2]
Education[]
Kirwan was educated at Oxford High School, and studied maths as an undergraduate at Clare College in the University of Cambridge.[3] She took a D.Phil at Oxford in 1984, with the dissertation title The Cohomology of Quotients in Symplectic and Algebraic Geometry, which was supervised by Michael Atiyah.[4]
Research[]
Kirwan's research interests include moduli spaces in algebraic geometry, geometric invariant theory (GIT), and in the link between GIT and moment maps in symplectic geometry.[5] Her work endeavours to understand the structure of geometric objects by investigation of their algebraic and topological properties.[6] She introduced the Kirwan map. From 1983 to 1985 she held a Junior Fellowship at Harvard. From 1983 to 1986 she held a Fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford, before becoming a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.[7] She is an honorary fellow at Clare College, Cambridge.[8]
In 1996 she was awarded the Title of Distinction of Professor of Mathematics. From 2004 to 2006 she was President of the London Mathematical Society, the second-youngest president in the society's history and only the second woman to be president.[9][10] In 2005, she received a five-year EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship, to support her research on the moduli spaces of complex algebraic curves.[11]
In 2017, she was elected Savilian Professor of Geometry, becoming the first woman to hold the post.[12] While this entailed a move to New College, Oxford she was elected an Emeritus Fellow at Balliol.[13]
Prizes, awards and scholarships[]
- London Mathematical Society Whitehead Prize, 1989[14]
- Fellow of the Royal Society, 2001[15]
- President, London Mathematical Society, 2003–2005
- EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship, 2005–2010, for her work in algebraic geometry[16]
- Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, 2012[17]
- London Mathematical Society Senior Whitehead Prize, 2013[14]
- DBE for services to mathematics, 2014[18]
- Maths and Computing Suffrage Science award, 2016[19]
- Member of Academia Europaea[7]
- Chairman of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust
- Sylvester Medal of The Royal Society, 2021.
Kirwan served on the medal selection committee for the awarding of the Fields medal to Prof Mirzakhani.[20]
Publications[]
- Cohomology of Quotients in Symplectic and Algebraic Geometry. Mathematical Notes. 31. Princeton University Press. 1984. ISBN 978-0691083704.
- An Introduction to Intersection Homology Theory. Longman Scientific and Technical. 1988.[21] with Jonathan Woolf: 2nd edn. CRC Press. 2006. ISBN 978-1584881841.
- Complex Algebraic Curves. London Mathematical Society Student Texts. Cambridge University Press. 1992. ISBN 978-0521423533.
References[]
- ^ Oxford University Calendar 2004-5, Oxford University Press, 2004.
- ^ Professor Frances Kirwan, Faces of Mathematics
- ^ "Frances Kirwan, Professor, Mathematics, University of Oxford". University of Washington. 10 May 2007. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
- ^ Frances Kirwan at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ Prof Kirwan profile Archived 10 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine, europeanwomeninmaths.org; accessed 9 May 2014.
- ^ Prof Kirwan profile, macs.hw.ac.uk; accessed 9 May 2014.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Academia Europaea member profile, retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ "Honorary Fellows". Clare College, Cambridge. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
- ^ "President Designate of the London Mathematical Society", Mathematical Institute News, University of Oxford, 2004.
- ^ "Female Presidents for Three Maths Societies". IMA. Institute of Mathematics. 5 January 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ Prof. Frances Kirwan awarded an EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship (2004), maths.ox.ac.uk; accessed 9 May 2014.
- ^ "Frances Kirwan elected 20th Savilian Professor". 11 October 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ "Emeritus Fellows - Balliol". 28 August 2009. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Dr Frances Kirwan awarded the Whitehead Prize, lms.ac.uk; accessed 9 May 2014.
- ^ Profile, royalsociety.org; accessed 9 May 2014.
- ^ Prof. Frances Kirwan awarded an EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship, Univ. of Oxford Mathematical Inst., retrieved 20 October 2014.
- ^ List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society; accessed 9 May 2014
- ^ "No. 60728". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2013. p. 7.
- ^ "LMS members to receive maths and computing awards | London Mathematical Society". lms-staging.ma.ic.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
- ^ Webb, Jonathan (12 August 2014). "First female winner for maths medal". Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ Kleiman, Steven L. (1990). "Review: An Introduction to Intersection Homology Theory, by Frances Kirwan". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.). 22 (1): 127–138. doi:10.1090/s0273-0979-1990-15859-8.
- 1959 births
- Living people
- 20th-century British mathematicians
- 21st-century British mathematicians
- Algebraic geometers
- British women mathematicians
- Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge
- Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge
- Alumni of the University of Oxford
- Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford
- Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford
- Fellows of New College, Oxford
- Female Fellows of the Royal Society
- Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
- Members of Academia Europaea
- Harvard Fellows
- People educated at Oxford High School, England
- Whitehead Prize winners
- British women academics
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- 20th-century women mathematicians
- 21st-century women mathematicians