Re: Hilton"s death

[Timothy Porter <t.porter@bangor.ac.uk>]

Dear Andrée and everyone.

Peter's death was announced on the Alg. Top bulletin board last week. 
There were several links
   to other obituaries. I can send them to anyone who is interested. 
There was a lot of mention of Peter's work at Bletchley Park.

Tim


On 16/11/2010 15:44, Andree Ehresmann wrote:
> Jean Pedersen has just informed me of the death of Peter Hilton. 
> Hereafter is part of an obituary notice in a Binghampton paper.
> We knew well Peter since Charles had invited Peter in Strasbourg while 
> he was still a young student, and later he visited us several times in 
> Paris and later in Amiens
> Andree
>
>
> Peter Hilton, 87, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Binghamton 
> Unïversity, died on Saturday, November 6, 2010. He is survived by his 
> wife Margaret, sons and daughter-in-law, Nicholas Hilton, Binghamton 
> and Timothy and Catherine Hilton, Seattle, Wa., two grandsons, one 
> great granddaughter and brother and sister-in-law, Dr. Sydney and Mary 
> Hilton, North Wales, U.K.
> Peter was born in London, and educated at Oxford University. During 
> World War II, at age 18, he was recruited from Oxford, because of his 
> mathematical ability and knowledge of German, to work at Bletchley 
> Park, the secret British faciiity dedicated to breaking German codes. 
> Thïs project was ledby Alan Turing, the celebrated mathematician and 
> founder of computer science, with whom the young Peter Hilton worked 
> closely. Initially, Peter worked on breaking the Enigma code, and, 
> later, on the more refined Fish code. Once the British Official 
> Secrets Act was lifted in the 1980's, his lectures about the years at 
> Bletchley Park were highly popular at venues all over the world. He 
> gave several such lectures at Binghamton University.
> After the War Peter obtained his doctorate from Oxford. Peter went on 
> to hold academic positions at Cambridge and Manchester Unïversities, 
> and a Chair at the University of Birmingham.
> In 1962, he moved to the United States where he was Professor of 
> Mathematics, first at Cornell, then at the University of Washington 
> and the Batteile Institute. He helcl the Louis D, Beaumont Chair at 
> Case Western Reserve University for a number of years, ending in 1982 
> when he became Distinguished Professor at Binghamton University, 
> retiring in 1995.
> Peter Hilton was one of the most influential mathematicians of his 
> generation. He made major contributions to algebraic topology and 
> homological algebra. His influence on these subjects has been 
> profound. In his later years he was also a significant figure in 
> Mathematics Education, especially in Continental Europe. He published 
> hundreds of research articles and many books on mathematics and 
> mathematics education, and he lectured at conferences into his 
> mid-eighties.
>
>



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