Raymond Flood (mathematician)

Raymond Flood
Raymond Flood at Gresham College, 2012
NationalityBritish
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
History of mathematics
Computational mathematics
Theoretical Physics
InstitutionsUniversity of Oxford
Kellogg College
Gresham College
British Society for the History of Mathematics
Committee for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology

Raymond Flood is Emeritus Fellow and a member of the Continuing Education Department at Kellogg College, Oxford,[1] and has been a Professor of Geometry at Gresham College.[2]

Education

Flood achieved a Bachelor of Science degree at Queens University, Belfast and a master's degree at Linacre College, Oxford. He obtained his PhD from University College, Dublin.[3] Flood obtained his doctorate through part-time study, as he had already acquired a family and a job.[4]

Career

In 1990, Flood was made a Founding Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford, formally Rewley House. Kellogg College, Oxford was created to look after the interests of mature and part-time students. Flood primarily teaches those students who are either mature, or who study part-time.[4] He has held numerous positions at the College and the University of Oxford, including Curator of the University Libraries and as a University lecturer at the University of Oxford.[1]

Flood has dedicated much of his academic career promoting mathematics and computing to adult audiences. He has been President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics from 2006 until 2009,[5] and also Research Associate in the School of Theoretical Physics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.[1] On Gresham College, Flood has said "Gresham College comes from a long tradition of liberal adult education. Allowing people from a variety of backgrounds... to get access to current thinking on the major issues of the day. Gresham College ethos is very similar to my own ethos"[6]

In August 2012, Flood was appointed Gresham Professor of Geometry at Gresham College for a period of three years, replacing John D. Barrow.[7] During his term at the College he delivered series of free public lectures on Shaping Modern Mathematics,[8] Applying Modern Mathematics,[9] and Great Mathematicians, Great Mathematics.[10]

Other research work and publications

Aside from his academic work, Flood is active in communicating mathematics and its history to non-specialist audiences. He has appeared on BBC Radio 4's In Our Time[11] and has lectured on transatlantic voyages with RMS Queen Mary 2.[2]

Flood has produced and co-produced many publications and books on Mathematics. Some of the most recent books with which he has been involved are James Clerk Maxwell: Perspectives on his Life and Work (Oxford University Press, 2014),[12][13][14] The Great Mathematicians (Arcturus, 2011), which celebrates the achievements of the great mathematicians in their historical context,[15][16] and Mathematics in Victorian Britain (Oxford University Press, 2011),[17][18] which assembles in a single source, research on the history of mathematicians in Victorian Britain that would otherwise be out of reach of the general reader.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c Raymond G Flood, Kellogg College (accessed 9 June 2014)
  2. ^ a b Professor Raymond Flood, Gresham College (accessed 9 June 2014)
  3. ^ Raymond Flood Appointed Professor of Geometry at Gresham College (accessed 9 June 2014)
  4. ^ a b Video Interview short with Professor Raymond Flood (accessed 22 January 2015)
  5. ^ 'The British Society for the History of Mathematics' by Robin Wilson and Raymond Flood in Newsletter of the European Mathematics Society, March 2013, Issue 87
  6. ^ Professor Raymond Flood and Gresham College (accessed 22 January 2015)
  7. ^ Gresham Professor of Geometry on www.gresham.ac.uk
  8. ^ Shaping Mathematics series page on www.gresham.ac.uk
  9. ^ Applying Modern Mathematics series page on www.gresham.ac.uk
  10. ^ Great Mathematicians, Great Mathematics series page on www.gresham.ac.uk
  11. ^ The Laws of Motion and Negative Numbers on the BBC In Our Time website (accessed 10 January 2015)
  12. ^ Jame Clerk Maxwell: Perspectives on his Life and Work listing on the OUP website
  13. ^ Flood, Raymond; McCartney, Mark; Whitaker, Andrew, eds. (9 January 2014). James Clerk Maxwell: Perspectives on his Life and Work. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-164125-1.
  14. ^ Kidwell, Peggy Aldrich (25 September 2014). "Review of James Clerk Maxwell: Perspectives on his Life and Work, edited by Raymond Flood, Mark McCartney and Andrew Whitaker". MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America.
  15. ^ Flood, Raymond; Wilson, Robin (2011). The Great Mathematicians: Unravelling the Mysteries of the Universe. Arcturus Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84858-416-7; e-book{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  16. ^ Leversha, Gerry (2013). "Review of The great mathematicians, by Raymond Flood and Robin Wilson. Pp. 208. 2011 ISBN: 9871848379022 (Arcturus)". The Mathematical Gazette. 97 (539): 361–362. doi:10.1017/S0025557200006240. S2CID 233357933.
  17. ^ Flood, Raymond; Rice, Adrian; Wilson, Robin, eds. (29 September 2011). Mathematics in Victorian Britain. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-960139-4. LCCN 2011938072.
  18. ^ Ruane, P. N. (16 May 2014). "Review of Mathematics in Victorian Britain edited by Raymond Flood, Adrian Rice, and Robin Wilson". MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America.
  19. ^ Mathematics in Victorian Britain listing on the OUP website