Dame Frances Clare Kirwan, DBE FRS (born 21 August 1959)[2] is a British mathematician, currently Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford. Her fields of specialisation are algebraic and symplectic geometry.[3][4]
Frances Kirwan | |
|---|---|
 Kirwan in 2009 | |
| Born | 21 August 1959[1] UK |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge University of Oxford |
| Awards | Whitehead Prize (1989) Senior Whitehead Prize (2013) Suffrage Science award (2016) Sylvester Medal of The Royal Society(2021) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Oxford |
| Thesis | The Cohomology of Quotients in Symplectic and Algebraic Geometry |
| Doctoral advisor | Michael Atiyah |
| Website | www |
Education
editKirwan was educated at Oxford High School, and studied maths as an undergraduate at Clare College in the University of Cambridge.[5] She took a D.Phil at Oxford in 1984, with the dissertation title The Cohomology of Quotients in Symplectic and Algebraic Geometry, which was supervised by Michael Atiyah.[6]
Research
editKirwan's research interests include moduli spaces in algebraic geometry, geometric invariant theory (GIT), and in the link between GIT and moment maps in symplectic geometry.[7] Her work endeavours to understand the structure of geometric objects by investigation of their algebraic and topological properties.[8] She introduced the Kirwan map.
From 1983 to 1985 she held a junior fellowship at Harvard. From 1983 to 1986 she held a Fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford, before becoming a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.[9] She is an honorary fellow of Clare College, Cambridge[10] and also at Magdalen College.[11]
In 1996, she was awarded the Title of Distinction of Professor of Mathematics. From 2004 to 2006 she was president of the London Mathematical Society, the second-youngest president in the society's history and only the second woman to be president.[12][13] In 2005, she received a five-year EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship, to support her research on the moduli spaces of complex algebraic curves.[14]
In 2017, she was elected Savilian Professor of Geometry, becoming the first woman to hold the post.[15] While this entailed a move to New College, Oxford she was elected an emeritus fellow at Balliol.[16] She was the convenor of the 2008–9 meeting of European Women in Mathematics and deputy convenor of the following meeting in 2010–11.[17]
Prizes, awards and scholarships
edit- London Mathematical Society Whitehead Prize, 1989[18]
- Fellow of the Royal Society, 2001[19]
- President, London Mathematical Society, 2003–2005
- EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship, 2005–2010, for her work in algebraic geometry[20]
- Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, 2012[21]
- London Mathematical Society Senior Whitehead Prize, 2013[18]
- DBE for services to mathematics, 2014[22]
- Maths and Computing Suffrage Science award, 2016[23]
- Member of Academia Europaea[9]
- Chairman of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust
- Sylvester Medal of The Royal Society, 2021
- Honorary degree, University of York, 2020[24]
- Honorary degree, University of St Andrews, 2022[25]
- L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards (Laureate for Europe – Mathematics), 2023[26]
Kirwan served on the medal-selection committee that awarded the Fields medal to Maryam Mirzakhani.[27]
Publications
edit- Cohomology of Quotients in Symplectic and Algebraic Geometry. Mathematical Notes. Vol. 31. Princeton University Press. 1984. ISBN 978-0691083704.
- An Introduction to Intersection Homology Theory. Longman Scientific and Technical. 1988.[28] with Jonathan Woolf: 2nd edn. CRC Press. 2006. ISBN 978-1584881841.
- Complex Algebraic Curves. London Mathematical Society Student Texts. Cambridge University Press. 1992. ISBN 978-0521423533.
References
edit- ^ ltd, company check. "PROFESSOR FRANCES CLARE KIRWAN director information. Free director information. Director id 915281815". Company Check.
- ^ "Frances Clare KIRWAN personal appointments - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk.
- ^ Oxford University Calendar 2004-05, Oxford University Press (2004).
- ^ Professor Frances Kirwan profile Archived 6 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Faces of Mathematics; accessed 23 March 2022.
- ^ "Frances Kirwan, Professor, Mathematics, University of Oxford". University of Washington. 10 May 2007. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
- ^ Frances Kirwan at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ Prof Kirwan profile Archived 10 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine, europeanwomeninmaths.org; accessed 9 May 2014.
- ^ Prof Kirwan profile Archived 28 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine, macs.hw.ac.uk; accessed 9 May 2014.
- ^ a b Academia Europaea member profile, retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ "Honorary Fellows". Clare College, Cambridge. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
- ^ "People at Magdalen". Magdalen College Oxford. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "President Designate of the London Mathematical Society", Mathematical Institute News, University of Oxford, 2004.
- ^ "Female Presidents for Three Maths Societies". IMA. Institute of Mathematics. 5 January 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ Prof. Frances Kirwan awarded an EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship (2004) Archived 18 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine, maths.ox.ac.uk; accessed 9 May 2014.
- ^ "Frances Kirwan elected 20th Savilian Professor". 11 October 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2017.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Emeritus Fellows - Balliol". 28 August 2009. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
- ^ "History". European Women in Mathematics. 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ a b Dr Frances Kirwan awarded the Whitehead Prize, lms.ac.uk; accessed 9 May 2014.
- ^ Profile, royalsociety.org; accessed 9 May 2014.
- ^ Prof. Frances Kirwan awarded an EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship, Univ. of Oxford Mathematical Inst., retrieved 20 October 2014.
- ^ List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society; accessed 9 May 2014
- ^ "No. 60728". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2013. p. 7.
- ^ "LMS members to receive maths and computing awards | London Mathematical Society". lms-staging.ma.ic.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021.(registration required)
- ^ "Introducing our Honorary Graduates". University of York. January 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "Honorary graduates". University of St Andrews. 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ "Discover the laureates of the 25th L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards | UNESCO". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ Webb, Jonathan (12 August 2014). "First female winner for maths medal". Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ Kleiman, Steven L. (1990). "Review: An Introduction to Intersection Homology Theory, by Frances Kirwan". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.). 22 (1): 127–138. doi:10.1090/s0273-0979-1990-15859-8.