Mary Rees facts for kids

Susan Mary Rees, born on July 31, 1953, is a brilliant British mathematician. She is known for her important work on complex dynamical systems. These are like studying how things change over time in complicated patterns. She was a professor at the University of Liverpool and became an emeritus professor in 2018.

A Life in Mathematics

Early Life and Education

Mary Rees was born in Cambridge, England. She studied mathematics at St Hugh's College, Oxford, earning her first degree in 1974 and a master's degree in 1975. She then continued her studies at the University of Warwick, where she earned her PhD in mathematics in 1978.

Research and Teaching

After finishing her PhD, Dr. Rees worked at several famous research places. These included the Institute for Advanced Study in the United States and the Institut des hautes études scientifiques in France. She later joined the University of Liverpool, where she taught and did research for many years. She became a full professor of mathematics in 2002. She retired in 2018 and is now an emeritus professor, which means she is still connected to the university.

Awards and Discoveries

In 1988, Dr. Rees received the Whitehead Prize from the London Mathematical Society. This award recognized her amazing contributions to mathematics. One of her most important discoveries showed that certain types of mathematical maps, called rational maps, behave in a very special way. This was a big step forward in understanding complex systems.

She also gave a speech at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Kyoto, Japan, in 1990. In more recent years, much of her work has focused on understanding simpler versions of these rational maps. She even helped to prove a very important idea in mathematics called the Ending Laminations Conjecture in 2004.

Royal Society Fellowship

In 2002, Mary Rees was chosen to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the United Kingdom. It means she is recognized as one of the best scientists in her field.

Family Connections

Mathematics seems to run in the Rees family! Her father, David Rees, was also a very famous mathematician. He even worked on breaking the secret Enigma code during World War II at Bletchley Park. Mary's sister, Sarah Rees, is also a mathematician.