Michael atiyah

Savilian Chair of Geometry at Oxford, His first major contribution in collaboration with F. Hirzebruch was the development of a new and powerful technique in topology K -theory which led to the solution of many outstanding difficult problems. Subsequently in collaboration with I. Singer he established an important theorem dealing with the number of solutions of elliptic differential equations.

Atiyah law

The index theorem could be interpreted in terms of quantum theory and has proved a useful tool for theoretical physicists. Beyond these linear problems, gauge theories involved deep and interesting nonlinear differential equations. In particular, the Yang-Mills equations have turned out to be particularly fruitful for mathematicians.

Atiyah initiated much of the early work in this field and his student Simon Donaldson went on to make spectacular use of these ideas in 4-dimensional geometry. Fields Medal President of the London Mathematical Society in Abel Prize London 46 1 , London 49 1 , Intelligencer 6 1 , Michael Francis Atiyah.