From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.science.mathematics.categories/6380 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Andree Ehresmann Newsgroups: gmane.science.mathematics.categories Subject: Hilton"s death Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2010 16:44:15 +0100 Message-ID: Reply-To: Andree Ehresmann NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=ISO-8859-1;DelSp="Yes";format="flowed" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1289942103 26264 80.91.229.12 (16 Nov 2010 21:15:03 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:15:03 +0000 (UTC) To: categories@mta.ca Original-X-From: majordomo@mlist.mta.ca Tue Nov 16 22:14:57 2010 Return-path: Envelope-to: gsmc-categories@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from smtpx.mta.ca ([138.73.1.114]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1PISrd-0002zm-Qd for gsmc-categories@m.gmane.org; Tue, 16 Nov 2010 22:14:54 +0100 Original-Received: from mlist.mta.ca ([138.73.1.63]:36964) by smtpx.mta.ca with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1PISr2-0004G4-Ho; Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:14:16 -0400 Original-Received: from majordomo by mlist.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1PISqz-0007L0-SS for categories-list@mlist.mta.ca; Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:14:14 -0400 Content-Disposition: inline Precedence: bulk Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.science.mathematics.categories:6380 Archived-At: Jean Pedersen has just informed me of the death of Peter Hilton. =20 Hereafter is part of an obituary notice in a Binghampton paper. We knew well Peter since Charles had invited Peter in Strasbourg while =20 he was still a young student, and later he visited us several times in =20 Paris and later in Amiens Andree Peter Hilton, 87, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Binghamton =20 Un=EFversity, died on Saturday, November 6, 2010. He is survived by his =20 wife Margaret, sons and daughter-in-law, Nicholas Hilton, Binghamton =20 and Timothy and Catherine Hilton, Seattle, Wa., two grandsons, one =20 great granddaughter and brother and sister-in-law, Dr. Sydney and Mary =20 Hilton, North Wales, U.K. Peter was born in London, and educated at Oxford University. During =20 World War II, at age 18, he was recruited from Oxford, because of his =20 mathematical ability and knowledge of German, to work at Bletchley =20 Park, the secret British faciiity dedicated to breaking German codes. =20 Th=EFs project was ledby Alan Turing, the celebrated mathematician and =20 founder of computer science, with whom the young Peter Hilton worked =20 closely. Initially, Peter worked on breaking the Enigma code, and, =20 later, on the more refined Fish code. Once the British Official =20 Secrets Act was lifted in the 1980's, his lectures about the years at =20 Bletchley Park were highly popular at venues all over the world. He =20 gave several such lectures at Binghamton University. After the War Peter obtained his doctorate from Oxford. Peter went on =20 to hold academic positions at Cambridge and Manchester Un=EFversities, =20 and a Chair at the University of Birmingham. In 1962, he moved to the United States where he was Professor of =20 Mathematics, first at Cornell, then at the University of Washington =20 and the Batteile Institute. He helcl the Louis D, Beaumont Chair at =20 Case Western Reserve University for a number of years, ending in 1982 =20 when he became Distinguished Professor at Binghamton University, =20 retiring in 1995. Peter Hilton was one of the most influential mathematicians of his =20 generation. He made major contributions to algebraic topology and =20 homological algebra. His influence on these subjects has been =20 profound. In his later years he was also a significant figure in =20 Mathematics Education, especially in Continental Europe. He published =20 hundreds of research articles and many books on mathematics and =20 mathematics education, and he lectured at conferences into his =20 mid-eighties. [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]