| Authorised form of name | Atiyah; Sir; Michael Francis (1929 - 2019) |
| Dates | 1929 - 2019 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | London, England |
| Date of birth | 22/04/1929 |
| Date of death | 11/01/2019 |
| Research field | Mathematics |
| Activity | Honours:
OM 1992; Kt 1983
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 15/03/1962 |
| Age at election | 32 |
| Royal Society activity | Royal Society roles:
Council: 1972-1974, 1984-1985, 1990-1995; VP 1984-1985; PRS 1990-1995
Medals and prizes:
Royal Medal 1968; Copley Medal 1988; Abel Prize 2004 (with Isadore Singer) for creating Index Theory
Lectures:
Bakerian 1975; Humphry Davy 1986 |
| General context | Sir Michael Atiyah was a mathematician who made outstanding contributions to geometry and topology and was President of the Royal Society from 1990 until 1995. He was best known for his co-development of topological K-theory and the Atiyah–Singer index theorem. As well as advancing pure mathematics, Sir Michael’s work has been fruitfully applied and extended to both pillars of theoretical physics — quantum theory and general relativity.
His research involved deep insights relating to mathematical concepts known as vector bundles. The well-known Möbius strip and the Klein bottle can both be mathematically described in terms of vector bundles.
Sir Michael received very many awards, including the 1966 Fields Medal, the 1968 Royal Medal of the Royal Society, the 1988 Copley Medal of the Royal Society, and the 2004 Abel Prize of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. He was knighted in 1983, appointed to the Order of Merit in 1992 and was made a Grand Officer of the Légion d’honneur in 2011.
Sir Michael Atiyah OM HonFREng FRS died on 11 January 2019. |
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| Sources | The Abel Prize is the Nobel Prize equivalent for Mathematics (there is no Nobel Prize for Mathematics) established by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 2002 to commemorate the nineteenth century mathematician Niels Henrik Abel
Anne Purkiss 'Scientists 1985 - 2010; Portraits of Fellows of the Royal Society' 2010 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/44275873 |
| Royal Society code | NA7718 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| EC/1962/01 | Atiyah, Michael Francis: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/003408 | Palaozzi, Eduardo and Atiyah, SIr Michael | June 1995 |
| IM/004783 | Atiyah, Sir Michael | 1995 |
| P/0148 | Portrait of Atiyah, Sir Michael | 1995 |
| IM/000149 | Atiyah, Sir Michael Francis | 1995 |
| IM/GA/SGRS/8390 | Atiyah, Sir Michael Francis | 1985 |
| IM/GA/WRS/8998 | Atiyah, Sir Michael Francis | nd |
| IM/000148 | Atiyah, Sir Michael | 1995 |
| IM/005057 | Lachmann, Sir Peter; Atiyah, Sir Michael and Rowlinson, Sir John on Admission Day 1995 | 1995 |
| IM/004784 | Atiyah, Sir Michael | 1995 |
| IM/000423 | Bohr, Niels Henrik David | 1992 |
| IM/AKP/0007a | Portrait of Sir Michael Atiyah | March 1981 |