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Sir Michael Atiyah received both his B.A. and Ph.D. (1955) from Trinity College, Cambridge, England. He held postdoctoral appointments at Cambridge and the Institute for Advanced Study. He arrived in Oxford in 1961 as a Reader and then from 1963 to 1969 he held the Savilian Chair of Geometry. He spent 3 years as Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study before returning to Oxford as a Royal Society Research Professor. In 1990 he became Master of Trinity College and the first Director of the Newton Institute for Mathematical Studies in Cambridge. He retired from these positions in 1997 and 1996 respectively. Professor Atiyah is currently an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh.
Sir Michael has made many outstanding and fundamental mathematical contributions, especially in areas involving interactions between geometry, topology and analysis. In collaboration with Hirzebruch he pioneered the development of K-theory, which is now crucial to the solution of many important mathematical problems. His celebrated "index theorem" with Singer led to new connections in differential geometry, topology and analysis. It has become an important tool in theoretical physics. Many of the great results in 4-manifold geometry rely on mathematical theories in which he made foundational contributions. He has been very influential in bringing the ideas of theoretical physicists to the attention of mathematicians and vice versa.
For these and other contributions he received numerous awards including the Fields Medal (1966), Royal Medal (1968), De Morgan Medal (1980), King Faisal Prize (1987), and the Copley Medal (1988). He was Knighted in 1983 and made a member of the Order of Merit in 1992. He has been elected to the national academies of about 20 nations and received honorary degrees from over 30 universities.
Sir Michael served as President of the London Mathematical Society (1974-1976) and President of the Royal Society (1990-1995). Since 1997 he has been President of the Pugwash Conferences, an international organization dedicated to "reducing the danger of armed conflict and seeking cooperative solutions for global problems." He is also a foreign associate of the National Academy of Science (NAS).
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