Editing Elmer Rees

{{Short description|Welsh mathematician (1941–2019)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Elmer Gethin Rees
| image = Elmer Rees.jpg
| caption = 
| birth_date = 19 November 1941
| birth_place = [[Llandybie]], [[Carmarthenshire]], Wales
| death_date = 4 October 2019
| death_place = [[Bristol]], England
| field = [[Mathematician]]
| work_institution = [[St Catherine's College, Oxford]] <br> [[University of Edinburgh]] <br> [[Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Cambridge]]<br>[[University of Warwick]]
| doctoral_advisor = [[David B. A. Epstein]]
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for = 
| prizes = 
| religion = 
| footnotes = 
}}
'''Elmer Gethin Rees''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FRSE}} (19 November 1941 – 4 October 2019<ref>{{cite web | title= London Mathematical Society announcement | url = https://www.lms.ac.uk/news-entry/07102019-1628/professor-elmer-rees-1941-2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/rees/4765830|title=Elmer G. Rees – Funeral notice}}</ref>) was a [[Welsh people|Welsh]] mathematician with publications in areas ranging from [[topology]], [[differential geometry]], [[algebraic geometry]], [[linear algebra]] and [[Morse theory]] to [[robotics]]. He held the post of Director of the [[Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research]], a partnership between the [[University of Bristol]] and the British [[signals intelligence]] [[intelligence agency|agency]] [[Government Communications Headquarters|GCHQ]], from its creation in 2005 until 2009.

== Biography ==
Rees was born in [[Llandybie]] and grew up in [[Wales]]. He studied at [[St Catharine's College, Cambridge]] gaining a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] before moving on to the [[University of Warwick]], where he completed his [[PhD]] in 1967. His thesis on ''Projective Spaces and Associated Maps'', was written under the supervision of [[David B. A. Epstein]].

Rees's career had taken him to [[University of Hull]], the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in [[Princeton, New Jersey]], [[Swansea University]] and [[St Catherine's College, Oxford]], before becoming a professor at the [[University of Edinburgh]] in 1979, where he remained until retiring from the post in 2005.

He was elected as a fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] in 1982. One of his most notable legacies was the establishment of the [[International Centre for Mathematical Sciences]].

Rees was appointed [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in the [[2009 Birthday Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=59090 |date=13 June 2009 |page=24 |supp=y }}</ref>

While at the universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, he supervised at least 15 PhD students,<ref>{{MathGenealogy|24461}}</ref><ref>[https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/15011 PhD thesis of Richard Hepworth]</ref> including Anthony Bahri, John D. S. Jones, Gregory Lupton, Jacob Mostovoy, Simon Willerton and Richard Hepworth.

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links and references==
*{{MathGenealogy|24461}}
*Senatus Academicus, University of Edinburgh. "[http://www.aaps.ed.ac.uk/Committees/Senate/Senate_Pages/2005-06/20060607/SM-Rees.pdf ''Special Minute - Professor Elmer Gethin Rees MA PhD FRSE'']". Retrieved 2006-10-21.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110611092025/http://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/pdffiles/hondeg.pdf University of Edinburgh Honorary Degree (24 June 2008)]
*[https://www.maths.bris.ac.uk/research/heilbronn_institute/ Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research]
*[http://www.maths.bris.ac.uk/events/meetings/meeting/index.php?meeting_id=76 Elmer Rees 70th birthday conference]
*[http://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/~aar/confer/elmer.pdf 70th birthday conference poster]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Elmer}}
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:2019 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Welsh educators]]
[[Category:21st-century Welsh educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Welsh mathematicians]] 
[[Category:21st-century Welsh mathematicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Welsh scientists]]
[[Category:21st-century Welsh scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Welsh writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Welsh writers]]
[[Category:Algebraic geometers]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Warwick]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Differential geometers]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:British topologists]]


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