Tom Bridgeland facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tom Bridgeland
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Thomas Andrew Bridgeland
1973 (age 51–52) |
| Education | Shelley High School |
| Alma mater | |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Fourier-Mukai transforms for surfaces and moduli spaces of stable sheaves (2002) |
| Doctoral advisor | Antony Maciocia |
Thomas Andrew Bridgeland (born in 1973) is a brilliant mathematician. He is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Sheffield. He was also a senior research fellow at All Souls College, Oxford from 2011 to 2013. Since then, he has remained a Quondam Fellow there. He is most famous for creating something called Bridgeland stability conditions, which are important in a complex area of math.
Contents
Learning and Early Career
Tom Bridgeland went to Shelley High School in Huddersfield. He then studied mathematics at Christ's College, Cambridge, which is part of the University of Cambridge. He did very well, earning a top degree in 1994. He also completed his PhD, which is a high-level university degree, at the University of Edinburgh. After his PhD, he continued his research there for a while.
Discoveries and Contributions
Bridgeland's main area of research is algebraic geometry. This is a type of math that uses algebra to study shapes and spaces. He focuses on understanding special mathematical tools called "derived categories of coherent sheaves."
Bridgeland Stability Conditions
One of his most important ideas is the "stability condition" on triangulated categories. Imagine you have many complex mathematical objects. Bridgeland found a new way to sort and understand them. He showed that all these sorting systems form a special kind of mathematical space called a manifold. His work also looked at these conditions on K3 surfaces, which are special kinds of mathematical surfaces.
Impact on Mathematics
Bridgeland's work helped make "coherent derived categories" a key tool for understanding algebraic shapes. His ideas have inspired many mathematicians around the world. His results on Fourier–Mukai transforms, which are powerful mathematical tools, have solved many problems in algebraic geometry. They have also influenced other areas of math, like homological algebra, representation theory, and combinatorics.
In 2002, Bridgeland introduced his ideas about stability conditions. This was a big step forward. It gave mathematicians a new way to describe things like D-branes, which are important in theoretical physics. This created a new and exciting connection between math and physics. His work has been a key part of later research on homological mirror symmetry, a big idea that links different areas of math and physics.
His research has received funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Awards and Recognition
Tom Bridgeland has received several important awards for his work. He won the Berwick Prize in 2003 and the Adams Prize in 2007. In 2014, he was chosen to be a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)]. This is a very high honor for scientists in the United Kingdom. He was also invited to speak at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid in 2006, which is a major event for mathematicians worldwide.
