Alex Wilkie facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alex Wilkie
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Wilkie, pictured in 2007
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Alex James Wilkie
1948 (age 76–77) Northampton, England
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| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University College London Bedford College, University of London |
| Known for | Wilkie's theorem |
| Awards | Karp Prize (1993) Fellow of the Royal Society (2001) Pólya Prize (LMS) (2017) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics, Model theory |
| Institutions | University of Manchester |
| Doctoral advisor | Wilfrid Hodges |
Alex James Wilkie is a famous British mathematician. He was born in 1948 in Northampton, England. He is known for his important work in model theory and logic.
Professor Wilkie has taught at top universities. These include the University of Oxford and the University of Manchester. He holds a special position called the Fielden Chair of Pure Mathematics.
Becoming a Mathematician
Alex Wilkie went to Aylesbury Grammar School. He then studied mathematics at University College London. In 1969, he earned his first degree with top honors.
He continued his studies in mathematical logic. He received his master's degree in 1970. In 1973, he earned his PhD from Bedford College, University of London. His PhD research was about Models of Number Theory.
His Amazing Career
After finishing his PhD, Alex Wilkie started teaching. He was a lecturer at Leicester University. He also worked as a research fellow at the Open University.
He spent time as a junior lecturer at Oxford University. He was also a visiting professor at Yale University in the United States. In 1980, he solved a very old and difficult math problem. It was known as Tarski's high school algebra problem.
In 1982, Wilkie worked at the University of Paris VII. The next year, he came back to England. He joined the University of Manchester as a research fellow. Later, he became a lecturer there.
In 1986, he moved back to Oxford. He became a Reader in mathematical logic. He stayed in this role for many years. In 2007, he returned to the University of Manchester. He took on the important Fielden Chair position.
Awards and Special Honors
Alex Wilkie has received many awards for his work. In 2001, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
The Royal Society praised his work. They said he combined different math ideas. He used logic and geometry to solve complex problems. His findings have helped in many areas of mathematics.
He won the Karp Prize in 1993. This is a top award in logic, given every five years. He shared it with another mathematician, Ehud Hrushovski. He won the Karp Prize again in 2013 with other researchers.
Wilkie has also held leadership roles. He was vice-president and president of the Association for Symbolic Logic. In 2012, he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. In 2017, he received the Pólya Prize (LMS). This is another major award from the London Mathematical Society.
He has been an invited speaker at big math conferences. These include the International Congress of Mathematicians. In 2015, he gave a special lecture called the Gödel Lecture.
