Alan Baker made fundamental contributions to the theory of Diophantine approximations of wide applicability in the theory of numbers. Among the important consequences, the best known was his discovery of effective bounds for the integer solutions of an extensive class of Diophantine equations. Hitherto, practically no ‘effective’ methods were known in this connection, and Alan’s work provided a major breakthrough with a central problem of long standing. Alan was awarded a Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1970.
Professor Alan Baker FRS died on 5 February 2018.
Professional position
- Emeritus Professor of Pure Mathematics, University of Cambridge
- Professor of Pure Mathematics, Trinity College, University of Cambridge
Subject groups
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Mathematics
Pure mathematics
Awards
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Fields Medal
Generalized the Gelfond-Schneider theorem (the solution to Hilbert's seventh problem). From this work he generated transcendental numbers not previously identified.
