Person
Preston, Gordon Bamford (1925 - 2015)
- Born
- 28 April 1925
Workington, United Kingdom - Died
- 14 April 2015
Oxford, United Kingdom - Occupation
- Mathematician
Summary
Gordon Preston was a mathematician who made major contributions in the field of semigroups. His three papers published in the Journal of the London Mathematical Society laid the foundation of inverse semigroup theory. With A. Clifford, Preston published the 2-volume The algebraic theory of semigroups (1961 and 1967) which proposed standardised definitions and terminology, a systematic treatment which united the field and was used as the standard reference for a generation of researchers. In 1963 he became Professor of Mathematics at Monash University, continuing his research until retiring in 1990.
Details
Chronology
- 1948 - 1950
- Career position - Assistant Mathematics Master, Westminster School,. London
- 1950 - 1963
- Career position - Teacher at Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, United Kingdom
- 1954
- Education - DPhil, University of Oxford
- 1963
- Life event - Migrated to Australia
- 1963 - 1990
- Career position - Professor of Mathematics, Monash University
- 1990
- Life event - Retired
Related entries
Published resources
Book Sections
- Preston, G. B., 'Personal reminiscences of the early history of semigroups' in Semigroup theory: proceedings of the Monash Conference in honour of G. B. Preston, Hall, T. E., Jones, P. R. and Meakin, J. C., eds (Rier Edge, New Jersey, U.S.A.: World Scientific Publishing, 1991), pp. 16-30. Details
Journal Articles
- Haley, Anna, 'Vale Gordon Preston 28 April 1925 to 14 April 2015', Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society, 44 (2) (2015), 81-2. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q3110880. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/35755325. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 13 March 2018, Last modified: 3 July 2018