爱德华·梅特兰·赖特

爱德华·梅特兰·赖特爵士（英语：Sir Edward Maitland Wright，1906年2月13日—2005年2月2日），和他在牛津大学的导师哈代合写《数论介绍》（An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers）以著名的英国数学家。

早年

赖特是自学成才的。他父亲本经营肥皂厂，在赖特三岁时闭业，父母亦离异，赖特随任职音乐教师的母亲至南部。

14岁时，赖特在伦敦的一所学校教授法语，在那里的一位老师把代数教给当时只识基本算术的他。16岁时，他不但在黄昏上物理课，而且在空余时间自学数学。后来他又在伦敦大学读校外学位，并以第一名成绩毕业。之后他有资格进入牛津大学或剑桥大学，因为他发现牛津大学耶稣学院有个不限年龄的奖学金，便进入那里学习。其后他成功获得该奖学金，又成为哈代指导的研究生。

在1930年代早期，他在德国哥庭根大学过了一年。

亚伯丁大学

29岁时，赖特开始在亚伯丁大学任数学教授。第二次世界大战后，渐加入大学行政架构，1961年任副校长，1962年任校长及名誉副校长，至1976年退休。

家庭

赖特在牛津遇上当时修读英语的未来妻子Phyllis Harris。他俩在1934年结婚。1987年Harris逝世。儿子约翰同样在亚伯丁大学为数学教授。

Sir Edward Maitland Wright (13 February 1906 – 2 February 2005) was an English mathematician, best known for co-authoring An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers Hardy & Wright (1938) with G. H. Hardy. He served as the Principal of the University of Aberdeen from 1962 to 1976.

Career

He was born in Farnley, near Leeds, Yorkshire, where his father was a soap manufacturer. He moved to the south of England with his mother when his parents separated.

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, firstly on a Research Fellowship at Christ Church, which included a year in Göttingen, Germany. He was then appointed a lecturer at Christ Church, teaching there until 1935 followed by his appointment as Professor of Mathematics at the University of Aberdeen. He held that chair from 1936 to 1962, except for a break during the war (from 1943 to 1945) when he was seconded to the Air Ministry Intelligence at MI6 headquarters. He became Vice-Principal of the University in 1961 and Principal and Vice-Chancellor from 1962 until he stood down in 1976. He nevertheless continued to work as a Research Fellow at the University until 1983. A building there is named after him in recognition of his service to the university.

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.

Honours and awards

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1937 and awarded their Makdougall Brisbane Prize in 1952.

He was elected to the London Mathematical Society in 1929 and awarded their Senior Berwick Prize in 1978.

He was knighted in 1977 and awarded the Gold Medal of the Order of Polonia Restituta of Poland in 1978.

Private life

He died in Reading shortly before his 99th birthday. He had married Phyllis Harris of North Wales, with whom he had a son, the mathematician John D. M. Wright.

Publications

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