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Bill Parry (mathematician)

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English mathematician

For other people named William Parry, see William Parry (disambiguation).
William Parry
Parry at Oberwolfach in 1968
Born(1934-07-03)3 July 1934
Coventry, Warwickshire, England
Died20 August 2006(2006-08-20) (aged 72)
Marton, Warwickshire, UK
OccupationMathematician
Known forErgodic theory and dynamical systems
TitleProfessor of Mathematics
Fellow of the Royal Society
Spouse Benita Teper ​(m. 1958⁠–⁠2006)​
Children1
Academic background
Alma materUniversity College London
University of Liverpool
Imperial College London
ThesisErgodic and mixing transformations (1960)
Doctoral advisorYael Dowker
Academic work
InstitutionsBirmingham University
University of Sussex
University of Warwick
Doctoral studentsMark Pollicott
Mary Rees

William Parry FRS (3 July 1934 – 20 August 2006) was an English mathematician who worked in dynamical systems, and, in particular, ergodic theory. In particular, he studied subshifts of finite type nilflows.

Life

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Bill Parry was born in Coventry in the Warwickshire (now the West Midlands), England, the sixth of seven children. Although he failed the eleven-plus exam, Parry was persuaded by his mathematics teacher at Coventry Junior Technical School, specialising in metalwork and woodwork, to aim for university. To get appropriate tuition, he had to travel to Birmingham Technical College. He won a place at University College London. Following an MSc at the University of Liverpool, he returned to London to study at Imperial College with Yael Dowker, obtaining his PhD in 1960, with thesis Ergodic and mixing transformations.

Having served in lecturing positions at Birmingham University and the University of Sussex, Parry was appointed to a readership at the recently created University of Warwick in 1968; his was the first appointment in analysis. Two years later, he gave a particularly well-received address at the Sixteenth International Congress of Mathematicians in Nice, France, and was promoted to professor.

He played a key role in the Warwick Mathematics Department, and was Chair of the Department for 2 years. The rapid rise of the Department's international reputation was due to many, among whom Parry featured prominently. His great mathematical achievements were recognized by his early election to the Royal Society in 1984; however, he rarely used the title "Fellow of the Royal Society" except to aid specific causes of interest.

Parry continued to contribute to the mathematical community and others' learning up until his death: he taught the University of Warwick's undergraduate course on ergodic theory as late as 2003.

His published works include more than 80 research articles and four books. His doctoral students include Mark Pollicott and Mary Rees.

He died in Marton, Warwickshire, of cancer exacerbated by MRSA, at the age of 72, on 20 August 2006.

Research

In 1975, Parry and Dennis Sullivan introduced the topological Parry–Sullivan invariant for flows in one-dimensional dynamical systems.

See also

References

  1. Bill Parry at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  2. Parry, Bill; Sullivan, Dennis (1975). "A topological invariant of flows on 1-dimensional spaces". Topology. 14 (4): 297–299. doi:10.1016/0040-9383(75)90012-9.
  3. Sullivan, Michael C. (1997). "An invariant of basic sets of Smale flows". Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems. 17 (6): 1437–1448. doi:10.1017/S0143385797097617. S2CID 96462227.

External links

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