David Rees Scientist

For other persons named David/Dai Rees, see David/Dai ReesDavid Rees ScD Cantab, FIMA, FRS (Mathematics) (29 May 1918 – 16 August 2013) was an emeritus professor of pure mathematics at the University of Exeter, having been head of the Mathematics / Mathematical Sciences Department at Exeter for many years. During the Second World War, Rees was active on Enigma research in Hut 6 at Bletchley Park.Rees initially worked on semigroup theory, and Rees factor semigroup is named after him. He also gave a characterization of completely simple and completely 0-simple semigroups, nowadays known as Rees' theorem. The matrix-based semigroups used in this characterization are called Rees matrix semigroups. At the behest of Douglas Northcott he switched his research focus to commutative algebra. In 1954, in a joint paper with Northcott, Rees introduced the Northcott-Rees theory of reductions and integral closures which has subsequently been influential in commutative algebra.Before 1971, Rees was appointed head of the Mathematics Department at the University of Exeter. In 1993 Rees was awarded the Pólya Prize by the London Mathematical Society. In August 1998 a conference on Commutative Algebra was held at Exeter in honour of David Rees' 80th Year. He was an Honorary Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge

Personal facts

Birth dateMay 28, 1918
Date of deathAugust 16, 2013
Education
University of Cambridge
Known for
Rees factor semigroup
Rees algebra
Rees matrix semigroup
Rees's theorem

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doctoral student

David Rees on Wikipedia