E. M. Wright

Sir Edward Maitland Wright (13 February 1906, Farnley – 2 February 2005, Reading) was an English mathematician, best known for co-authoring An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers Hardy & Wright (1938)^[1] with G. H. Hardy. He had died shortly before his 100th birthday.

After obtaining a first-class mathematics degree as a self-taught external student at the University of London, Wright studied at Jesus College, Oxford and Christ Church, Oxford. His research career lasted from 1931 until the early 1980s. He was a professor at the University of Aberdeen from 1936-1962, and Principal between 1962 and 1976. A building there is named after him in recognition of his service to the university.^[2] Wright worked in many different subspecialties, including number theory and graph theory, and published over a hundred papers. Most of his work focused on analytic number theory.

He was knighted in 1977, and awarded the Senior Berwick Prize and the Gold Medal of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 1978. His son is mathematician J. D. M. Wright.

See also

• Fox–Wright function

Publications

• Hardy, G. H.; Wright, E. M. (1938). An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers. Oxford: Clarendon Press. JFM 64.0093.03.

References

1. Bell, E. T. (1939). "Review: G. H. Hardy and E. M. Wright, An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 45 (7): 507–509. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1939-07025-0.
2. "Edward Wright Building". University of Aberdeen. Retrieved 3 August 2010.

External links

• Obituary, Bull. London Math. Soc.
• Obituary, Times Online.
• Obituary, Daily Telegraph.
• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "E. M. Wright", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.
• E. M. Wright at the Mathematics Genealogy Project