Max Newman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maxwell Herman Alexander Newman (February 7, 1897 – February 22, 1984) was a British mathematician and codebreaker.

Newman was born in Chelsea, London, England. From 1927 to 1945 he was a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Cambridge, where his 1935 lectures on Foundations of Mathematics inspired Alan Turing to embark on his pioneering work on computing machines. In 1935 he married Lyn Irvine, a writer.

At the end of August 1942, Newman joined the codebreakers at Bletchley Park. By 1943, Newman was head of the section tasked with helping break the German Lorenz cipher using machine methods. His section was termed the Newmanry, which eventually housed several Colossus computers designed by Tommy Flowers.

Newman was appointed head of the mathematics department at the (Victoria) University of Manchester, England, in 1945 and transformed it into a center of international renown, retiring in 1964 to live in Comberton, near Cambridge. After Lyn's death in 1973 he married Margaret Penrose, widow of Lionel Penrose.

Newman wrote Elements of the topology of plane sets of points, a definitive work on general topology. He also made major contributions to combinatorial topology. He died in Cambridge.

Honours:

• Fellow of the Royal Society, Elected 1939
• Royal Society Sylvester Medal, Awarded 1958
• London Mathematical Society, President 1949 - 1951
• LMS De Morgan Medal, Awarded 1962

The Newman Building, a mathematics building at the University of Manchester, is named after him.

[edit] References

• Shaun Wylie, rev. I. J. Good, "Newman [formerly Neumann], Maxwell Herman Alexander (1897 - 1984), mathematician", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004.

[edit] External links

• O'Connor, John J., and Edmund F. Robertson. "Max Newman". MacTutor History of Mathematics archive.

Preceded by Louis Mordell

Fielden Chair of Pure Mathematics

Succeeded by Frank Adams