书目名称 | People, Places, and Mathematics | 副标题 | A Memoir | 编辑 | Thomas Ward | 视频video | | 概述 | A compelling look back at a mathematician‘s career.Provides candid reflections on higher education from an insider’s point of view.Explores how early influences shape an academic career | 丛书名称 | Springer Biographies | 图书封面 |  | 描述 | This memoir chronicles the journey of an academic, tracing a path from primary school in Zambia to a career in higher education as a mathematician and educational leader. Set against the backdrop of the 20th century, the book explores how early influences and historical events shape an individual‘s life and professional trajectory.. .The author shares childhood experiences across three parts of Africa, providing an original perspective as a witness to the post-colonial period. Through personal reflections, the memoir delves into the emergence of ideas and collaborations in mathematics and how these shape career choices. It also offers candid observations on the major changes in British higher education since the 1980s.. .Intended for a general audience, this book provides a compelling read for anyone interested in the experience of becoming a mathematician, and higher education in general.. | 出版日期 | Book 2023 | 关键词 | Autobiography; Research career in mathematics; Higher education; Leadership roles in Universities; Ergod | 版次 | 1 | doi | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39074-6 | isbn_softcover | 978-3-031-39076-0 | isbn_ebook | 978-3-031-39074-6Series ISSN 2365-0613 Series E-ISSN 2365-0621 | issn_series | 2365-0613 | copyright | The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerl |
1 |
,Dorset and Ghana, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
“Mrs. Ward, you have a fine son, but he’s a whopper!” I imagine my mother was already more than aware of the second observation, made by a doctor in the Yeatman Hospital in Sherborne shortly after my arrival in the world on the 3rd of October, 1963.
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2 |
,Lusaka, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
Lusaka became the capital city of Northern Rhodesia in 1935, replacing Livingstone.
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3 |
,Swaziland, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
At the end of 1975 some of the family moved to Swaziland for our father to take up a position at the University of Botswana and Swaziland. The role was once again about building capacity, with the aim of eventually being able to offer a full Physics degree within Swaziland.
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4 |
,Dorchester, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
Thus I came to spend two terms at The Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester in 1982, which allowed me to do both A- and S-levels in Physics and in Further Mathematics, from a different examination board.
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5 |
,Coventry, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
In the Autumn of 1982 I enrolled at the University of Warwick, living for the first year in ‘International House’, a small modern residence near the centre of the campus, intended for international students. We had somehow arranged for a small tea chest to be left with distant relatives who lived nearby, so I started with more than a single suitcase of belongings. Included in this box was a basic soldering gun and an electric meter, both of them still in use. These were of course gifts from our father; our mother with a different sense of what is important practically gave me a raincoat and a small suitcase when I first left Swaziland.
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6 |
,Seattle, Shuffleboard, Vitaly, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
During my last year as a doctoral student the opportunity arose to attend a conference at the University of Washington in Seattle. This was an ‘NSF-CBMS Regional Conference in the Mathematical Sciences’ event entitled ‘Algebraic Ideas in Ergodic Theory’, comprising a series of lectures by my supervisor Klaus Schmidt. The event had been organised by Doug Lind, my first collaborator, and Selim Tuncel, who had also been a doctoral student in dynamics at Warwick a few years earlier. Part of the structure of these events is an expectation that the principal speaker produce a set of lecture notes, and these lecture notes helped me understand something of the wider world my own work lived in.
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7 |
,College Park, Maryland, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
Doubtless because of Klaus’ influence, I was appointed to a post-doctoral year with the dynamics group in College Park, Maryland for the academic year 1989–1990. At the time the group with the National Science Foundation funding that made this possible comprised Mike Boyle, and Dan Rudolph. College Park had been a centre of activity in dynamics for many years, and there were other faculty members working in the area. Among these were Joe Auslander and Nelson Markley, who worked in abstract topological dynamics, Ken Berg, one of whose early results on measures of maximal entropy had been generalised in the work with Doug and Klaus, Hsin Chu, who had largely worked in the area of topological groups but had done early work on ergodic properties of affine transformations of compact groups, and several others. It was a lively and friendly place, with a large number of visitors and regular weekend workshops in dynamical systems held jointly with Pennsylvania State University. Given the problem that arose during my doctorate of the relationship between completely positive entropy and Bernoullicity, my primary post-doctoral adviser was Dan Rudolph. Nonetheless, the whole group were actively helping and welcoming.
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8 |
,Columbus, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
Towards the end of my year at College Park I bought my first car, a Honda Civic with 80,000 miles on the clock—later dubbed the ‘red hot tamale’ by Aimee Johnson, one of Dan Rudolph’s students—and arranged a rental apartment in Columbus. Aimee’s husband Todd Drumm had kindly spent a morning driving me around car dealerships, and helped arrange insurance and so on. Aimee and Todd treated me with great kindness during that year, and remained good friends who visited us in the UK several times. Sadly the kind and relentlessly good-natured Todd passed away unexpectedly in 2020.
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9 |
,Norwich and Graham, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
We arrived in Norwich in June 1992, and moved into a small house on Caernarvon Road rented from my new colleague Johannes Siemons. Because of an unfortunate piece of timing, we had committed to a year rental on the Columbus apartment ending in October, and we were also trying to sell Tania’s little house in Birmingham which had been rented out for some of our time in Columbus. The two rents and one mortgage together exceeded my salary, so this was a difficult period financially. Tania did some supply teaching, and we used up our savings for some months. Gradually this all resolved itself: The apartment in Columbus was taken by someone else, the house in Birmingham sold for a large but one-off loss, and some sense of normality resumed.
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10 |
,Columbus Revisited, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
The return to Columbus on June 16th of 1993 proved to be a little more exciting than we would have hoped. Miraculously the details of coaches and trains between Norwich and Gatwick Airport meant that we would either be extremely early for our flight or nerve-shreddingly tight, and we had opted for the former. Even in 1993 flying to the United States often involved additional security and immigration checks, and I was and remain something of an anxious traveller.
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11 |
,Norwich Revisited, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
Our friends Greg and Anni took us to Columbus Airport for our final departure on the 1st of July 1994. I had first met them in the Student Union at Warwick in 1986, resulting in a memorable evening that ended with the consumption of a bottle of Dutch Genever in their flat on Gibbet Hill. Through a strange sequence of events we were to live in the same city several times: In Coventry in the late 1980s (indeed we shared a house, 3 Lollard Croft in Cheylesmore, for some years), in Columbus in the early 1990s, and years later in Norwich when Greg came to work at the John Innes Centre. Some juggling of heavier items between suitcases and hand luggage was required to meet the weight limits, and the final weeks of packing and cleaning had been tiring. It was a real relief to finally board.
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12 |
,Two New Roles in Norwich, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
During the 1990s the Physics part of the School of Mathematics and Physics was closed, primarily because of falling student intakes. The remaining School of Mathematics was not without its troubles, and by the late 1990s was in an extremely difficult financial position. I was largely inattentive to all this, concentrating on my own teaching and research roles. This only changed when there was a discussion about who should take over as Head of School. The process was managed by the Dean of Science, who would take soundings and if necessary hold a vote.
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13 |
,From Sillery to the Office for Students, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
On the 14th of March 2012 I was contacted by a search consultant called Mike Dixon about the role of PVC Education at Durham University.
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14 |
,Durham, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
Our son Raphael would be doing his GCSE examinations in the Summer of 2012 and we thought, perhaps naively, that moving to a new school for the sixth form should not be too disruptive. Our daughter Adele had started a Physics degree at Durham in Autumn 2011, and some aspects of the distinctive approach to education at Durham was attractive. I was also interested in what it would be like to step into a senior role in a new University where I knew nobody. I had been at UEA for many years, and there were familiar faces everywhere I went on the campus.
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15 |
,Leeds, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
We moved to Leeds at the start of August 2016, though we spent the first week of my appointment on a pre-arranged holiday. This was a rather active sort of holiday, at a Christian event called Revive in Ashburnham Place, near Battle in East Sussex. It made for a real break between two intense roles. Leeds is one of the larger universities in the country, and everything about it is on a big scale. It also had at the time a long and highly successful balanced commitment to education and research. I was taking over from Viv Jones, who had been Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education for many years and had made Leeds a leading institution for the quality and coherence of its educational offer, its astute use of digital technology, and its exceptional professional services support for education. During the early stages of the appointment process I had raised various ideas and things I would wish to implement, and invariably they were either long since established there or were in train. I learned a great deal from my time at Leeds, and enjoyed it greatly.
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16 |
,Newcastle, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
We moved back to Mishpocha in Durham at the start of May 2021. The move was made more difficult by a large number of plants in large pots and in the ground in Leeds. We had worked hard at bringing some vegetation to our house in Chapeltown, building raised wooden beds in the tarmac back yard, and digging through heavy clay and rubble at the front to make a varied hedge. In the end a separate truck was needed for the plants. At the other end, access to Mishpocha is impossible for a full-sized removal lorry, so the removal firm had to park up a little outside Durham and use a smaller truck to shuttle back and forth.
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17 |
,Looking Back, |
Thomas Ward |
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Abstract
Short of a deathbed it is always premature to attempt to understand the shape of influences on one’s life, but retiring from Newcastle provides a reasonable moment. Whatever I do next it will not be a role on a University executive, but will I hope include contact with students in one way or another. Students and their optimism, energy, and passionate engagement with social justice are the best thing about working in higher education.
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