Person: Baker (3), Alan
Alan Baker was an English mathematician, known for his work in number theory.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- He moved on to Trinity College Cambridge where he was awarded an M.A. Continuing his research at Cambridge advised by Harold Davenport, Baker began publishing papers.
- From 1964 to 1968 Baker was a research fellow at Cambridge, then becoming Director of Studies in Mathematics, a post which he held from 1968 until 1974 when he was appointed Professor of Pure Mathematics.
- Baker was awarded a Fields Medal in 1970 at the International Congress at Nice.
- Among the relevant profound contributions are those of Alan Baker, Wolfgang M Schmidt, and Vladimir Gennadievich Sprindzuk.
- Among these, Baker's have had the heaviest impact on other problems in mathematics.
- Baker however went further and produced results which, at least in principle, could lead to a complete solution of this type of problem.
- Among Baker's famous books are: Transcendental number theory (1975), Transcendence theory : advances and applications (1977), A concise introduction to the theory of numbers (1984), (with Gisbert Wüstholz) Logarithmic forms and Diophantine geometry (2007), and A Comprehensive Course in Number Theory (2012).
- However, this book gives the necessary intuitive background to study the original journal articles of Baker, Masser, Wüstholz and others on the above-listed subjects.
- Baker also edited the important New advances in transcendence theory (1988) and wrote the important survey with Gisbert Wüstholz entitled Number theory, transcendence and Diophantine geometry in the next millennium.
- In 1999 a conference was organised in Zürich to celebrate Baker's 60th birthday.
- Most of the lectures given at the meetings were published in A Panorama in Number Theory or The View from Baker's Garden (2002).
- The London Mathematical Society was represented by its President, Professor Martin Taylor, and it sent greetings to Alan Baker on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
- Baker has received many honours for his mathematical contributions in addition to the 1970 Fields medal.
- Outside of mathematics, Baker lists his interests as travel, photography and the theatre.
Born 19 August 1939, London, England. Died 4 February 2018, Cambridge, England.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Prize Fields Medal, Origin England
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
- Github:
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- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
