Person: Johnson (5), Barry
Barry Johnson was an English mathematician who worked on operator algebras.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Johnson studied mathematics as his main subject but he was also extremely successful in his subsidiary subjects of physics and chemistry, winning a prize from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.
- Johnson's contribution to these, as well as his penetrating and challenging (but never aggressive) questioning of views expressed in lectures left no doubt among his teachers that we were contributing in a modest way to the training of a mathematical giant.
- In order to undertake research in pure mathematics Johnson returned to England but he first taught at a grammar school in Tamworth before he began research in functional analysis at Gonville and Caius College of the University of Cambridge in October 1958.
- Johnson completed his doctorate in 1961 with a thesis Centralisers in topological algebras.
- Johnson spent the year 1970-71 as a visiting professor at Yale University.
- This was during a year in which Johnson was visiting professor at the University of California at Los Angelos, at Santa Barbara, and at Berkeley.
- In 1978 Johnson was honoured by being elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London.
- Johnson served the London Mathematical Society as a member of the Council during 1975-78, then as the 60th president of the Society in 1980-82.
- Johnson was a governor of the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle from 1987.
- Johnson is well known for his work on Banach algebras and operator algebras, in particular, studying cohomology in these algebras.
- In 1972 Johnson wrote a joint paper with Ringrose and Kadison on cohomology of operator algebras and in the same year his book Cohomology in Banach algebras (1972) appeared.
- We mentioned above that Johnson was President of the London Mathematical Society during 1980-82.
- Barry also liked listening to music and doing his own repairs and alterations to their house and their cottage on the Scottish borders.
Born 1 August 1937, Woolwich, London, England. Died 5 May 2002, Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
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
