Who are you looking for?

Install Famoose

Keep Famoose on your home screen or desktop for easy access.

Open this site in Chrome or Edge and look for Install app in the browser menu or address bar. If no install option appears, you can bookmark Famoose instead.

Famoose.co
Appearance
Text size
Page width
Colour
Discover›Science
Contents
Alan Baker
Mathematician

Alan Baker

Famoose for

Effective methods in transcendental number theory.

Linear forms in logarithms · Transcendental Number Theory

Born
19 August 1939
Birthplace
London
Died
4 February 2018

More people

Marie CurieDiscovering polonium and radium.Albert EinsteinDeveloping the theory of relativity.Charles DarwinExplaining evolution through natural selection.

Alan Baker

English mathematician whose work on logarithms of algebraic numbers supplied powerful tools for solving number-theory problems. He received the Fields Medal in 1970.

Early life

London education

Attended Stratford Grammar School and studied with Harold Davenport at University College London before doctoral work at Cambridge.

Career

  1. 1964

    Trinity fellowship

    Became a fellow of Trinity College.

  2. 1970

    Fields Medal

    Received the international mathematical honour.

  3. 1974

    Cambridge chair

    Became professor of pure mathematics.

Contributions

Linear forms in logarithms

Published a series establishing major transcendence results.

Transcendental Number Theory

Published his account of the subject.

Beyond work

Interests outside mathematics

Enjoyed travel, theatre, table tennis and bowling. His collaborator Gisbert Wüstholz recalled these interests in a personal remembrance published after Baker's death.

Sources & photo creditBiography and career ↗Biographical references ↗Interests outside mathematics — biographical source ↗

Original photograph. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.

Photo: JET Photographic. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.