Max Newman
Encyclopedia
Maxwell Herman Alexander "Max" Newman, FRS (7 February 1897 – 22 February 1984) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

 and codebreaker
Codebreaker
Codebreaker may refer to:*A person who performs cryptanalysis*The Codebreakers, a 1967 book on history of cryptography by David Kahn*Codebreaker , a 1981 puzzle-based computer game, originally released for the Atari 2600...

.

Pre–World War II

Max Newman was born Maxwell Neumann in Chelsea, London
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, on 7 February 1897. His father was Herman Alexander Neumann, originally from the German city of Bromberg (now in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

) who had emigrated with his family to London at the age of 15. Herman worked as a secretary in a company, and married Sarah Ann Pike, an English schoolteacher, in 1896. The family moved to Dulwich
Dulwich
Dulwich is an area of South London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth...

 in 1903, and Max attended Goodrich Road school, then City of London School
City of London School
The City of London School is a boys' independent day school on the banks of the River Thames in the City of London, England. It is the brother school of the City of London School for Girls and the co-educational City of London Freemen's School...

 from 1908. He won a scholarship to study mathematics at St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

 in 1915, and in 1916 gained a first in part I of the Mathematical Tripos.

His studies were postponed by World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. His father was interned
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...

 as an enemy alien after the start of the war in 1914, and upon his release he returned to Germany. In 1916, Max changed his name using a Deed of change of name
Deed of Change of Name
A deed of change of name is a legal document in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, which enables a single person or a family to officially change his or her name...

 to the anglicised "Newman" and Sarah did likewise in 1920. For national service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...

, Max taught at Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School
Archbishop Holgate's School
Archbishop Holgate's School is a voluntary aided Church of England, coeducational secondary school in York, England.-Admissions:The school has two main specialist statuses - Science College and Leading Edge. The current headmaster is Andrew Daly...

 in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

, worked in the Royal Army Pay Corps
Royal Army Pay Corps
The Royal Army Pay Corps was a former corps of the British Army responsible for administering all financial matters. It was amalgamated into the Adjutant General's Corps in 1992....

, and taught at Chigwell School
Chigwell School
Chigwell School is an English co-educational independent school/public school in Chigwell, in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It was founded in 1629 by Samuel Harsnett, a former Archbishop of York . There are around 730 pupils aged between 7 and 18 years...

. He was called up for military service
Military service
Military service, in its simplest sense, is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft . Some nations require a specific amount of military service from every citizen...

 in February 1918, but claimed conscientious objection due to his belief
Belief
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.-Belief, knowledge and epistemology:The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy....

s and his father's country of origin, and thereby avoided any direct role in the fighting.

He resumed his interrupted studies in October 1919, and graduated in 1921 as a wrangler (equivalent to a first) in Part II of the Mathematical Tripos, and gained distinction in Schedule B (the equivalent of Part III).

On 5 November 1923 he was elected a Fellow
Research fellow
The title of research fellow is used to denote a research position at a university or similar institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a principal investigator...

 of St John's. He worked on the foundations of combinatorial topology
Combinatorial topology
In mathematics, combinatorial topology was an older name for algebraic topology, dating from the time when topological invariants of spaces were regarded as derived from combinatorial decompositions such as simplicial complexes...

, and proposed that a notion of equivalence be defined using only three elementary "moves". Newman's definition avoided difficulties that had arisen from previous definitions of the concept. He also published papers on mathematical logic
Mathematical logic
Mathematical logic is a subfield of mathematics with close connections to foundations of mathematics, theoretical computer science and philosophical logic. The field includes both the mathematical study of logic and the applications of formal logic to other areas of mathematics...

, and solved a special case of Hilbert's fifth problem
Hilbert's fifth problem
Hilbert's fifth problem, is the fifth mathematical problem from the problem-list publicized in 1900 by mathematician David Hilbert, and concerns the characterization of Lie groups. The theory of Lie groups describes continuous symmetry in mathematics; its importance there and in theoretical physics...

.

He was appointed a lecturer in mathematics at Cambridge in 1927, where his 1935 lectures on the Foundations of Mathematics inspired Alan Turing
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS , was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a...

 to embark on his pioneering work on computing machines
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

. Newman wrote Elements of the topology of plane sets of points (1939), a definitive work on general topology
Topology
Topology is a major area of mathematics concerned with properties that are preserved under continuous deformations of objects, such as deformations that involve stretching, but no tearing or gluing...

, and still highly recommended as an undergraduate text. In December 1934 he married Lyn Lloyd Irvine
Lyn Irvine
Lyn Lloyd Newman was a journalist and writer.She was born in Berwick-upon-Tweed, the daughter of John A. Irvine, a Presbyterian minister, and his Irish wife Lilian; Andrew Irvine was her first cousin...

, a writer. They had two sons, Edward (born 1935) and William (born 1939).

World War II

Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. Newman's father was Jewish, which was of particular concern in the face of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

, and Lyn, Edward and William were evacuated to America in July 1940. Newman remained at Cambridge, and at first continued research and lecturing. By spring 1942, he was considering involvement in war work. He made enquiries, and was approached to work for the Government Code & Cypher School
Government Communications Headquarters
The Government Communications Headquarters is a British intelligence agency responsible for providing signals intelligence and information assurance to the UK government and armed forces...

 at Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...

. He was cautious, concerned to ensure that the work would be sufficiently interesting and useful, and there was also the possibility that his father's German nationality would rule out any involvement in top-secret work. The potential issues were resolved by the summer, and he agreed to arrive at Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...

 on 31 August 1942.

He was assigned to the Research Section and set to work on a German teleprinter
Teleprinter
A teleprinter is a electromechanical typewriter that can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point and point to multipoint over a variety of communication channels that range from a simple electrical connection, such as a pair of wires, to the use of radio and microwave as the...

 cipher
Cipher
In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...

 known as "Tunny
Lorenz cipher
The Lorenz SZ40, SZ42A and SZ42B were German rotor cipher machines used by the German Army during World War II. They were developed by C. Lorenz AG in Berlin. They implemented a Vernam stream cipher...

". He joined the "Testery
Testery
The Testery was a section at Bletchley Park, the British codebreaking station during World War II. It was set up in July 1942 under Major Ralph Tester to achieve Cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher. The three original founding members, cryptographers, and linguists were Captain Jerry Roberts,...

" in October. He disliked the work and found that it was not suited to his talents. He persuaded his superiors that codebreaking process could be mechanised, and he was assigned to develop a suitable machine in December 1942. Construction started in January 1943, and the first prototype was delivered in June 1943. It was operated in Newman's new section, termed the "Newmanry
Newmanry
The Newmanry was a section at Bletchley Park, the British codebreaking station during World War II. Its job was to develop and employ machine methods in Cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher. The Newmanry was named after its founder and head, Max Newman...

", was housed initially in Hut 11 and initially staffed by himself, Donald Michie
Donald Michie
Donald Michie was a British researcher in artificial intelligence. During World War II, Michie worked for the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, contributing to the effort to solve "Tunny," a German teleprinter cipher.-Early life and career:Michie was born in Rangoon, Burma...

, two engineers, and 16 Wrens
Women's Royal Naval Service
The Women's Royal Naval Service was the women's branch of the Royal Navy.Members included cooks, clerks, wireless telegraphists, radar plotters, weapons analysts, range assessors, electricians and air mechanics...

. The Wrens nicknamed the machine the "Heath Robinson
Heath Robinson (codebreaking machine)
Heath Robinson was a machine used by British codebreakers at Bletchley Park during World War II to solve messages in the German teleprinter cipher used by the Lorenz SZ40/42 cipher machine; the cipher and machine were called "Tunny" by the codebreakers, who named different German teleprinter...

", after the cartoonist
W. Heath Robinson
William Heath Robinson was an English cartoonist and illustrator, best known for drawings of eccentric machines....

 of the same name who drew humorous drawings of absurd mechanical devices.

The Robinson machines were limited in speed and reliability. Tommy Flowers
Tommy Flowers
Thomas "Tommy" Harold Flowers, MBE was an English engineer. During World War II, Flowers designed Colossus, the world's first programmable electronic computer, to help solve encrypted German messages.-Early life:...

 of the Post Office Research Station
Post Office Research Station
The Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill, London, was first established in 1921 and opened by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald in 1933.In 1943 the world's first programmable electronic computer, Colossus Mark 1 was built by Tommy Flowers and his team, followed in 1944 and 1945 by nine...

, Dollis Hill
Dollis Hill
Dollis Hill is an area of north-west London. It lies close to Willesden, in the London Borough of Brent. As a result, Dollis Hill is sometimes referred as being part of Willesden, especially by the national press...

 had experience of thermionic valves
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...

 and built an electronic machine, the Colossus computer
Colossus computer
Not to be confused with the fictional computer of the same name in the movie Colossus: The Forbin Project.Colossus was the world's first electronic, digital, programmable computer. Colossus and its successors were used by British codebreakers to help read encrypted German messages during World War II...

 which was installed in the Newmanry. This was a great success and ten were in use by the end of the war.

Post–World War II

By September 1945, Newman was appointed head of the Mathematics Department
School of Mathematics, University of Manchester
The School of Mathematics at the University of Manchester is one of the largest mathematics departments in the United Kingdom, with around 80 academic staff and an undergraduate intake of roughly 400 a year and another 200 postgraduate students...

 and to the Fielden Chair of Pure Mathematics
Fielden Chair of Pure Mathematics
The Fielden Chair of Pure Mathematics is an endowed professorial position in the School of Mathematics, University of Manchester, England.In 1870 Samuel Fielden, a wealthy mill owner from Todmorden, donated £150 to Owens College for the teaching of evening classes and a further £3000 for the...

 at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

. Newman lost no time in establishing the renowned Royal Society Computing Machine Laboratory at the University and recruited the engineers Frederic Calland Williams
Frederic Calland Williams
Sir Frederic Calland Williams CBE, FRS , known as 'Freddie Williams', was an English engineer....

 and Thomas Kilburn where they built the world's first electronic stored-program digital computer based on Turing's ideas. Newman retired in 1964 to live in Comberton
Comberton
Comberton is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, just east of the Prime Meridian.-History:Archaeological finds, including a Neolithic polished stone axe and a Bronze Age barrow , suggest there has been a settlement here for thousands of years. A Roman villa was discovered...

, near Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

. After Lyn's death in 1973 he married Margaret Penrose, widow of Lionel Penrose
Lionel Penrose
Lionel Sharples Penrose, FRS was a British psychiatrist, medical geneticist, mathematician and chess theorist, who carried out pioneering work on the genetics of mental retardation. He was educated at the Quaker Leighton Park School and St...

.

He continued to do research on combinatorial topology
Combinatorial topology
In mathematics, combinatorial topology was an older name for algebraic topology, dating from the time when topological invariants of spaces were regarded as derived from combinatorial decompositions such as simplicial complexes...

 during a period when England was a major centre of activity notably Cambridge under the leadership of Christopher Zeeman
Erik Christopher Zeeman
Sir Erik Christopher Zeeman FRS , is a Japanese-born British mathematician known for his work in geometric topology and singularity theory....

. Newman made important contributions leading to an invitation to present his work at the 1962 International Congress of Mathematicians
International Congress of Mathematicians
The International Congress of Mathematicians is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union ....

 in Stockholm at the age of 65, and proved a Generalized Poincaré conjecture
Generalized Poincaré conjecture
In the mathematical area of topology, the term Generalized Poincaré conjecture refers to a statement that a manifold which is a homotopy sphere 'is' a sphere. More precisely, one fixes a...

 for topological manifolds in 1966. He died in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

.

Honours:
  • Fellow of the Royal Society, Elected 1939
  • Royal Society Sylvester Medal
    Sylvester Medal
    The Sylvester Medal is a bronze medal awarded by the Royal Society for the encouragement of mathematical research, and accompanied by a £1,000 prize...

    , Awarded 1958
  • London Mathematical Society
    London Mathematical Society
    -See also:* American Mathematical Society* Edinburgh Mathematical Society* European Mathematical Society* List of Mathematical Societies* Council for the Mathematical Sciences* BCS-FACS Specialist Group-External links:* * *...

    , President 1949 - 1951
  • LMS De Morgan Medal
    De Morgan Medal
    The De Morgan Medal is a prize for outstanding contribution to mathematics, awarded by the London Mathematical Society. The Society's most prestigious award, it is given in memory of Augustus De Morgan, who was the first President of the society....

    , Awarded 1962
  • D.Sc. University of Hull
    University of Hull
    The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...

    , Awarded 1968


The Newman Building at Manchester was named in his honour. The building housed the pure mathematicians from the Victoria University of Manchester
Victoria University of Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...

 between moving out of the Mathematics Tower in 2004 and July 2007 when the School of Mathematics moved in to its new Alan Turing Building
Alan Turing Building
The Alan Turing Building, named after the mathematician and founder of computer science Alan Turing, is a building at the University of Manchester, in Manchester, England. It houses the School of Mathematics, the Photon Science Institute and the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics...

, where a lecture room is named in his honour.

In 1946 Newman declined the offer of an OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 in protest against the "ludicrous treatment" of Alan Turing
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS , was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a...

, who had received the same award for his vital war work.

External links

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