Robin Wilson (mathematician)
- This article is about Robin Wilson the mathematician. For the musician, see Robin Wilson.
Robin Wilson is professor (and head of department) of pure mathematics at the Open University.
He is also a fellow of Keble College, Oxford and Gresham Professor of Geometry (see Gresham College).
His father was Harold Wilson, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Research
Professor Wilson's academic interests lie in graph theory, particularly in colouring problems, e.g. the four colour problem, and algebraic properties of graphs.
He also researches the history of mathematics, particularly British mathematics and mathematics in the 17th century and the period 1860 – 1940 and the history of graph theory and combinatorics.
Education
- BA First Class Honours in Mathematics from Balliol College, Oxford
- MA from the University of Pennsylvania
- PhD from the University of Pennsylvania
- BA First Class Honours in 'Humanties with Music' from the Open University.
Notable publications
Professor Wilson has written popular books on sudoku and the Four color theorem:
- How to Solve Sudoku, Infamous Ideas 2005: ISBN 1-904902-62-6
- Four Colours Suffice, Allen Lane (Penguin), 2002: ISBN 0-713-99670-6
- Stamping through Mathematics, Springer, 2001: ISBN 0-387-98949-8
- Oxford Figures: 800 Years of the Mathematical Sciences (with J.Fauvel & R.Flood), Published by Clarendon Press, 2000: ISBN 0-19-852309-2
- Graphs and Applications: An Introductory Approach (with J.M. Aldous), Springer, 2000: ISBN 1-85233-259-X
- Mathematical Conversations: Selections from the Mathematical Intelligencer (with J.Gray), Springer, 2000: ISBN 0-387-98686-3