British mathematician and a popular-science and science-fiction writer
Ian Nicholas Stewart
FRS
CMath
FIMA (born 24 September 1945)
[3] is a British mathematician and a
popular-science and science-fiction writer.
[4] He is
Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the
University of Warwick , England.
Education and early life
Stewart was born in 1945 in
Folkestone , England. While in the
sixth form at
Harvey Grammar School in Folkestone he came to the attention of the mathematics teacher. The teacher had Stewart sit mock
A-level examinations without any preparation along with the upper-sixth students; Stewart was placed first in the examination. He was awarded a scholarship to study at the
University of Cambridge as an undergraduate student of
Churchill College, Cambridge , where he studied the
Mathematical Tripos and obtained a first-class
Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics in 1966. Stewart then went to the
University of Warwick where his
PhD on
Lie algebras was supervised by
Brian Hartley and completed in 1969.
[5]
Career and research
After his PhD, Stewart was offered an academic position at Warwick. He is well known for his popular expositions of mathematics and his contributions to
catastrophe theory .
[6]
While at Warwick, Stewart edited the mathematical magazine
Manifold .
[7] He also wrote a column called "Mathematical Recreations" for
Scientific American magazine from 1991 to 2001. This followed the work of past columnists like
Martin Gardner ,
Douglas Hofstadter , and
A. K. Dewdney . Altogether, he wrote 96 columns for Scientific American , which were later reprinted in the books "Math Hysteria", "How to Cut a Cake: And Other Mathematical Conundrums" and "Cows in the Maze".
Stewart has held visiting academic positions in Germany (1974), New Zealand (1976), and the US (
University of Connecticut 1977–78,
University of Houston 1983–84).
Stewart has published more than 140
scientific papers , including a series of influential papers co-authored with
Jim Collins on
coupled oscillators and the symmetry of animal gaits .
[4]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
Stewart has collaborated with
Jack Cohen and
Terry Pratchett on four
popular science books based on Pratchett's
Discworld . In 1999
Terry Pratchett made both
Jack Cohen and Professor Ian Stewart "Honorary Wizards of the Unseen University" at the same ceremony at which the University of Warwick gave Terry Pratchett an honorary degree.
In March 2014 Ian Stewart's iPad app,
Incredible Numbers by Professor Ian Stewart , launched in the App Store. The app was produced in partnership with
Profile Books and
Touch Press .
[14]
Mathematics and popular science
Manifold , mathematical magazine published at the
University of Warwick (1960s)
Nut-crackers: Puzzles and Games to Boggle the Mind (Piccolo Books) with John Jaworski, 1971.
ISBN
978-0-330-02795-3
Concepts of Modern Mathematics (1975)
Oh! Catastrophe (1982, in French)
Does God Play Dice? The New Mathematics of Chaos (1989)
[15]
Game, Set and Math (1991)
Fearful Symmetry (1992)
Another Fine Math You've Got Me Into (1992)
The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World , with
Jack Cohen (1995)
Nature's Numbers: The Unreal Reality of Mathematics (1995)
What is Mathematics? – originally by
Richard Courant and
Herbert Robbins , second edition revised by Ian Stewart (1996)
From Here to Infinity (1996), originally published as The Problems of Mathematics (1987)
Figments of Reality , with
Jack Cohen (1997)
The Magical Maze: Seeing the World Through Mathematical Eyes (1998)
ISBN
0-471-35065-6
Life's Other Secret (1998)
What Shape is a Snowflake? (2001)
Flatterland (2001)
ISBN
0-7382-0442-0 (See
Flatland )
The Annotated
Flatland (2002)
Evolving the Alien: The Science of Extraterrestrial Life , with
Jack Cohen (2002). Second edition published as What Does a Martian Look Like? The Science of Extraterrestrial Life .
Math Hysteria (2004)
ISBN
0-19-861336-9
The Mayor of Uglyville's Dilemma (2005)
Letters to a Young Mathematician (2006)
ISBN
0-465-08231-9
How to Cut a Cake: And Other Mathematical Conundrums (2006)
ISBN
978-0-19-920590-5
Why Beauty Is Truth: A History of Symmetry (2007)
ISBN
0-465-08236-X
Taming the infinite: The story of Mathematics from the first numbers to chaos theory (2008)
ISBN
978-1-84724-181-8
Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities (2008)
ISBN
1-84668-064-6
Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures: Another Drawer from the Cabinet of Curiosities (2009)
ISBN
978-1-84668-292-6
Cows in the Maze: And Other Mathematical Explorations (2010)
ISBN
978-0-19-956207-7
The Mathematics of Life (2011)
ISBN
978-0-465-02238-0
In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed the World (2012)
ISBN
978-1-84668-531-6
[16]
Symmetry: A Very Short Introduction (2013)
ISBN
978-0-19965-198-6
Visions of Infinity: The Great Mathematical Problems (2013)
ISBN
978-0-46502-240-3
Professor Stewart's Casebook of Mathematical Mysteries (2014)
ISBN
978-1-84668-348-0
Incredible Numbers by Professor Ian Stewart (
iPad
app ) (2014)
Calculating the Cosmos: How Mathematics Unveils the Universe (2016)
ISBN
978-1-78125-718-0
Infinity: A Very Short Introduction (2017), Oxford University Press.
Significant Figures: The Lives and Work of Great Mathematicians (2017)
ISBN
978-0-465-09612-1
Do Dice Play God? The Mathematics of Uncertainty (2019), Profile Books.
What's the use ?: How mathematics shapes everyday life? (2021), Basic Books.
What's the use ?: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics (2021), Profile Books.
Computer programming
Easy Programming for the ZX Spectrum (1982), with Robin Jones, Shiva Publishing Ltd.,
ISBN
978-0-906812-23-5
Computer Puzzles For Spectrum & ZX81 (1982), with Robin Jones, Shiva Publishing Ltd.,
ISBN
978-0-906812-27-3
Timex Sinclair 1000: Programs, Games, and Graphics , with Robin Jones, Birkhäuser,
ISBN
978-3-7643-3080-4
Spectrum Machine Code (1983), with Robin Jones, Shiva Publishing Ltd.,
ISBN
978-0-906812-35-8
Further Programming for the ZX Spectrum (1983), with Robin Jones, Shiva Publishing Ltd.,
ISBN
978-0-906812-24-2
Gateway to Computing with the ZX Spectrum (1984), Shiva Publishing Ltd.,
ISBN
978-1-85014-053-5
Science of Discworld series
Textbooks
Catastrophe Theory and its Applications , with Tim Poston, Pitman, 1978.
ISBN
0-273-01029-8 .
The Foundations of Mathematics , 2nd Edition, Ian Stewart, David Tall. Oxford University Press, 2015.
ISBN
978-0-19-870643-4
Algebraic number theory and Fermat's last theorem , 4th Edition, Ian Stewart, David Tall. Chapman & Hall/CRC, 2015
ISBN
978-1-49-873839-2
Complex Analysis , 2nd Edition, Ian Stewart, David Tall. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
ISBN
978-1-10-843679-3
Galois Theory , 5th Edition, Chapman & Hall/CRC, 2022
ISBN
978-10-3210159-0
Galois Theory Errata for 3rd Edition
Science fiction
Science and mathematics
Awards and honours
In 1995 Stewart received the
Michael Faraday Medal and in 1997 he gave the
Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on The Magical Maze . He was elected as a
Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001.
[2] Stewart was the first recipient in 2008 of the
Christopher Zeeman Medal, awarded jointly by the
London Mathematical Society (LMS) and the
Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) for his work on promoting mathematics.
[17]
Personal life
Stewart married Avril, in 1970.
[2] They met at a party at a house that Avril was renting while she trained as a nurse. They have two sons.
[2] He lists his recreations as science fiction, painting, guitar, keeping fish, geology, Egyptology and snorkelling.
[2]
References
^
Ian Stewart at the
Mathematics Genealogy Project
^
a
b
c
d
e Anon (2014).
"STEWART, Prof. Ian Nicholas" .
Who's Who (online
Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black.
doi :
10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.36256 . (Subscription or
UK public library membership required.)
^
Ian Nicholas Stewart) encyclopedia.com
^
a
b
Ian Stewart publications indexed by the
Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
^ Stewart, Ian Nicholas (1969).
Subideals of Lie algebras . wrap.warwick.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Warwick.
OCLC
921056078 .
EThOS
uk.bl.ethos.594893 .
^ Bellos, Alex (16 April 2011).
"Mathematics of Life by Ian Stewart – review" . The Guardian .
^
"In conversation with Professor Ian Stewart – interview" . Chalkdust . 14 March 2016.
^ Ashwin, P.; Buescu, J.; Stewart, I. (1994). "Bubbling of attractors and synchronisation of chaotic oscillators". Physics Letters A . 193 (2): 126.
Bibcode :
1994PhLA..193..126A .
doi :
10.1016/0375-9601(94)90947-4 .
^
Strogatz, Steve H. ;
Stewart, Ian (1993).
"Coupled oscillators and biological synchronization" (PDF) . Scientific American . 269 (6): 102–9.
Bibcode :
1993SciAm.269f.102S .
doi :
10.1038/scientificamerican1293-102 .
PMID
8266056 .
^ Ashwin, P.; Buescu, J.; Stewart, I. (1996). "From attractor to chaotic saddle: A tale of transverse instability". Nonlinearity . 9 (3): 703.
Bibcode :
1996Nonli...9..703A .
doi :
10.1088/0951-7715/9/3/006 .
S2CID
250784441 .
^ Collins, J. J.; Stewart, I. N. (1993). "Coupled nonlinear oscillators and the symmetries of animal gaits". Journal of Nonlinear Science . 3 (1): 349–392.
Bibcode :
1993JNS.....3..349C .
doi :
10.1007/BF02429870 .
S2CID
122386357 .
^
Golubitsky, Marty ;
Stewart, Ian ; Buono, Pietro-Luciano;
Collins, James J. (1999). "Symmetry in locomotor central pattern generators and animal gaits". Nature . 401 (6754): 693–5.
Bibcode :
1999Natur.401..693G .
doi :
10.1038/44416 .
PMID
10537106 .
S2CID
14527573 .
^ Stewart, I. (2000).
"Mathematics. The Lorenz attractor exists" . Nature . 406 (6799): 948–9.
doi :
10.1038/35023206 .
PMID
10984036 .
^
"Incredible Numbers by Professor Ian Stewart" .
^ Holmes, Philip.
"Does God Play Dice: The New Mathematics of Chaos and What Shape Is a Snowflake? Magical Numbers in Nature" (PDF) . Notices of the AMS . 49 : 1392–1396.
^
Nahin, Paul J. (2012). "In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed the World, Ian Stewart, Basic Books, New York, 2012. $26.99 (342 pp.). ISBN 978-0-465-02973-0". Physics Today . 65 (9): 52–53.
doi :
10.1063/PT.3.1720 .
ISSN
0031-9228 .
^ Shepherd, Jessica (8 June 2009),
"The magic numbers: Professor Ian Stewart persuades Jessica Shepherd that maths can be fun – with a bit of help from Terry Pratchett" ,
The Guardian
External links
International National Academics People Other