View source for Robin Wilson (mathematician)

{{Short description|British mathematician (born 1943)}}
{{about|the mathematician|the musician|Robin Wilson (musician)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix  = [[The Honourable]]
| name              = Robin Wilson
| image             = Robin_Wilson_outside_Gresham_College_-_23jun11.JPG
| image_size        = 
| caption           = Robin Wilson in 2011
| birth_name        = Robin James Wilson
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|df=y|1943|12|5}}
| birth_place       = [[London]], England
| spouse            = {{marriage|Joy Crispin|1968}}
| children          = 2
|parents           = [[Harold Wilson]]<br/>[[Mary Wilson, Lady Wilson of Rievaulx|Mary Baldwin]]
| field             = [[Graph theory]]
| work_institutions = [[Open University]]<br/> [[University of Oxford]]<br>[[Gresham College]]
| alma_mater        = [[Balliol College, Oxford]] ([[B. A.|BA]])<br/>[[University of Pennsylvania]] ([[M. A.|MA]], [[PhD]])
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Nesmith Ankeny]]
| doctoral_students = [[Amanda Chetwynd]]
| known_for         = 
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| prizes            = 
| footnotes         = 
| signature         = 
}}

'''Robin James Wilson''' (born 5 December 1943) is an English mathematician. He is an emeritus professor in the Department of Mathematics at the [[Open University]], having previously been Head of the Pure Mathematics Department and Dean of the Faculty.<ref name=ou-maths>{{cite web |url=http://www.mathematics.open.ac.uk/People/r.j.wilson |title=Prof Robin Wilson |publisher=[[Open University]], Department of Mathematics And Statistics | location=UK | access-date=8 December 2013}}</ref> He was a stipendiary lecturer at [[Pembroke College, Oxford]]<ref>[http://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/Fellows_Staff/Fellow_and_Staff_Profiles.php?profile=259 Pembroke College website]</ref> and, from 2004 to 2008, [[Gresham Professor of Geometry]] at [[Gresham College]], London.<ref name=gresham-webpage>{{cite web |url=http://www.gresham.ac.uk/professors-and-speakers/professor-robin-wilson |title=Professor Robin Wilson |publisher=Gresham College |access-date=8 December 2013}}</ref> On occasion, he teaches at [[Colorado College]] in the United States.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.coloradocollege.edu/dotAsset/2a480cfb-31ec-4511-a641-1ab48d054075.pdf|title=Block Visitors|journal=Countable Bits|volume=8|issue=1|date=May 2015|publisher=The Colorado College Department of Mathematics and Computer Science|access-date=23 June 2017}}</ref> He is also a long standing fellow of [[Keble College, Oxford]].

Professor Wilson is a son of former British Prime Minister [[Harold Wilson]] and his wife, [[Mary Wilson, Lady Wilson of Rievaulx|Mary]].

== Early life and education ==
Wilson was born in 1943 to the politician [[Harold Wilson]], who later became [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]], and his wife the poet [[Mary Wilson, Lady Wilson of Rievaulx|Mary Wilson]] ([[Given name#Name at birth|née]] Baldwin). He has a younger brother, Giles, who in his 50s gave up a career as a teacher to be a train driver.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/son-of-former-pm-harold-wilson-swaps-teaching-for-a-career-as-train-driver-7210307.html|title=Son of former PM Harold Wilson swaps teaching for a career as train driver|work=[[London Evening Standard]]|date=20 November 2006|access-date=11 December 2019}}</ref> Wilson attended [[University College School]] in [[Hampstead]], North London. He achieved a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] First Class Honours in Mathematics from [[Balliol College]], [[Oxford University|Oxford]], an [[Master of Arts|MA]] from the [[University of Pennsylvania]], and a PhD from the [[University of Pennsylvania]] (1965–1968). In a [[The Guardian|''Guardian'']] interview in 2008, Wilson spoke of the fact he grew up known to everyone primarily as a son of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|leader]] and Prime Minister Harold Wilson: "I hated the attention and I still dislike being introduced as Harold Wilson's son. I feel uncomfortable talking about it to strangers even now."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/oct/07/academicexperts.maths|title=Interview: Robin Wilson, mathematics professor, on his passions and father|last=Crace|first=John|date=6 October 2008|work=The Guardian|access-date=16 February 2019|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

==Mathematics career==
Wilson's academic interests lie in [[graph theory]], particularly in [[graph coloring|colouring]] problems, e.g. the [[four color theorem|four colour problem]], and algebraic properties of graphs. He also researches the [[history of mathematics]], particularly British mathematics and mathematics in the 17th century and the period 1860 to 1940, and the history of graph theory and [[combinatorics]].

In 1974, he won the [[Lester R. Ford Award]] from the [[Mathematical Association of America]] for his expository article ''An introduction to [[matroid]] theory''.<ref>[http://www.maa.org/programs/maa-awards/writing-awards/paul-halmos-lester-ford-awards Paul R. Halmos – Lester R. Ford Awards, Mathematical Association of America]</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Wilson, R. J.|title=An introduction to matroid theory|journal=[[Amer. Math. Monthly]]|volume=80|issue=5|year=1973|pages=500–525|url=http://www.maa.org/programs/maa-awards/writing-awards/an-introduction-to-matroid-theory|doi=10.2307/2319608|jstor=2319608|citeseerx=10.1.1.599.5103}}</ref> Due to his collaboration on a 1977 paper<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1016/0095-8956(77)90039-9 | volume=23 | issue=2–3 | title=On the chromatic index of almost all graphs | journal=[[Journal of Combinatorial Theory]] | series=Series B | pages=255–257| year=1977 | last1=Erdős | first1=P. | authorlink1=Paul Erdős | last2=Wilson | first2=Robin J. | doi-access= }}</ref> with the [[Hungarian people|Hungarian]] mathematician [[Paul Erdős]], Wilson has an [[Erdős number]] of 1.

In July 2008, he published a study of the mathematical work of [[Lewis Carroll]], the creator of ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' and ''[[Through the Looking-Glass]]'' — ''Lewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life'' (Allen Lane, 2008. {{isbn|978-0-7139-9757-6}}). From January 1999 to September 2003, Wilson was editor-in-chief of the [[European Mathematical Society]] Newsletter and in 2003–2008 an Associate Editor.<ref>''European Mathematical Society Newsletter'', No 49, September 2003, {{ISSN|1027-488X}}</ref> He is past President of the [[British Society for the History of Mathematics]].<ref name="ou-webpage">{{cite web |url=http://users.mct.open.ac.uk/rjw22/ |title=Professor Robin Wilson |publisher=Open University |access-date=8 December 2013}}</ref>

Since 1985, Robin Wilson has edited the [[mathematics on stamps]] "Stamp Corner" column for the ''[[The Mathematical Intelligencer|Mathematical Intelligencer]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Robin |title=My Favorite Mathematical Stamps: 40 Years of Intelligencer Stamp Corners |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00283-023-10305-2 |journal=The Mathematical Intelligencer |language=en |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=70–77 |doi=10.1007/s00283-023-10305-2 |issn=0343-6993|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Other interests==
He has strong interests in music, including the operas of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]], and is the co-author (with [[Frederic Lloyd]]) of ''Gilbert and Sullivan: The Official D'Oyly Carte Picture History''.<ref>Knopf, 1984. {{isbn|978-0-394-54113-6}}</ref> In 2007, he was a guest on ''[[Private Passions]]'', the biographical music discussion programme on [[BBC Radio 3]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 3 - Private Passions |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnv3 |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Wilson is married and has twin daughters.<ref name="guardian-20081007">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/oct/07/academicexperts.maths|title=Serious showman|author=John Crace|author-link=John Crace (writer)|date=7 October 2008|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=8 December 2013}}</ref>

==Publications==
Wilson has written or edited about thirty books, including popular books on [[sudoku]] and the [[Four Color Theorem]]:

*''Oxford's Savilian Professors of Geometry: The First 400 Years'' (editor), Oxford University Press, 2022: {{ISBN|978-0-19-886903-0}}
*''Number Theory: A Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2020: {{ISBN|978-0-19-879809-5}}
*''[[The Turing Guide]]'' (with [[Jack Copeland]], [[Jonathan Bowen]], Mark Sprevak, et al.), [[Oxford University Press]], 2017: {{isbn|978-0198747826}} (hardcover), {{isbn|978-0198747833}} (paperback)<ref>{{cite journal| author-link=W. Andrew Robinson | last=Robinson | first=Andrew | url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23331072-700-the-turing-guide-last-words-on-an-enigmatic-codebreaker/ | title=The Turing Guide: Last words on an enigmatic codebreaker? | journal=[[New Scientist]] | date=4 January 2017 }}</ref>
*''Combinatorics: A Very Short Introduction,'' Oxford University Press, 2016: {{ISBN|978-0-19-872349-3}}
*''Combinatorics: Ancient & Modern'' (with John Watkins), Oxford University Press, 2013: {{isbn|0-19-965659-2}} 
*''The Great Mathematicians'' (with [[Raymond Flood (mathematician)|Raymond Flood]]), Arcturus Publishing Ltd, 2011: {{isbn|1-84837-902-1}}
*''Lewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life'', Allen Lane, 2008: {{isbn|978-0-7139-9757-6}}
*''Hidden Word Sudoku'', Infinite Ideas Limited 2005: {{isbn|1-904902-74-X}}
*''How to Solve Sudoku'', Infinite Ideas Limited 2005: {{isbn|1-904902-62-6}}
*''Sherlock Holmes in Babylon and Other Tales of Mathematical History'' (co-edited with Marlow Anderson and [[Victor J. Katz]]), The Mathematical Association of America, 2004: {{isbn|0-88385-546-1}}
*''Mathematics and Music: From Pythagoras to Fractals'' (co-edited with John Fauvel & [[Raymond Flood (mathematician)|Raymond Flood]]), Oxford University Press, 2003: {{isbn|0-19-851187-6}}
*''Four Colours Suffice: How the Map Problem Was Solved'', Allen Lane (Penguin), 2002: {{isbn|0-7139-9670-6}}
*''Stamping through Mathematics'', Springer, 2001: {{isbn|0-387-98949-8}} 
*''Oxford Figures: 800 Years of the Mathematical Sciences'' (with John Fauvel & [[Raymond Flood (mathematician)|Raymond Flood]]), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000: {{isbn|0-19-852309-2}} 
*''Graphs and Applications: An Introductory Approach'' (with Joan Aldous), Springer, 2000: {{isbn|1-85233-259-X}} 
*''Mathematical Conversations: Selections from the Mathematical Intelligencer'' (with [[Jeremy Gray|J. Gray]]), Springer, 2000: {{isbn|0-387-98686-3}}
*''An Atlas of Graphs'' (with Ronald Read), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998: {{isbn|0-19-853289-X}} (paperback edition, 2002: {{isbn|0-19-852650-4}})
*''[[Graph Theory, 1736–1936]]'' (with [[Norman L. Biggs]] and Keith Lloyd), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976: {{isbn|0-19-853901-0}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://users.mct.open.ac.uk/rjw22/ Robin Wilson's Page at the Open University]
*[http://www.mathematics.open.ac.uk/People/r.j.wilson Robin Wilson's entry in the Faculty of Mathematics and Computing at the Open University]
*[http://www.gresham.ac.uk/audio_video.asp?pageid=108&frmProfessor=10 Lectures by Robin Wilson] at Gresham College
*[http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/html/id.phtml?id=36152 Robin Wilson's entry at the Mathematics Genealogy Project]
*{{IMDb name|5983237|Robin Wilson}}

{{Harold Wilson}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Robin}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:British people of English descent]]
[[Category:People educated at University College School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Open University]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni]]
[[Category:Fellows of Keble College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Academics of Gresham College]]
[[Category:British historians of mathematics]]
[[Category:20th-century British mathematicians]]
[[Category:21st-century British mathematicians]]
[[Category:Graph theorists]]
[[Category:Children of prime ministers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Harold Wilson|Robin]]
[[Category:Sons of life peers]]