| Andrew Ranicki | |
| Birth Date: | 30 December 1948 |
| Birth Place: | London, England |
| Death Place: | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Fields: | Mathematics |
| Workplaces: | Trinity College, Cambridge Princeton University University of Edinburgh |
| Alma Mater: | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Doctoral Advisors: | Andrew Casson John Frank Adams |
| Spouse: | Ida Thompson |
| Parents: | Marcel Reich-Ranicki and Teofila Reich-Ranicki |
| Website: | https://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/~v1ranick/ |
Andrew Alexander Ranicki (born Andrzej Aleksander Ranicki; 30 December 1948 – 21 February 2018) was a British mathematician who worked on algebraic topology. He was a professor of mathematics at the University of Edinburgh.
Ranicki was the only child of the well-known literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki[1] and the artist Teofila Reich-Ranicki; he spoke Polish in his family. Born in London, he lived in Warsaw, in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg, and attended school in England at the King's School, Canterbury from the age of sixteen.[2] [3] [4]
Ranicki studied Mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, and graduated with a BA in 1969.[4] At Cambridge, he was a student of topologists Andrew Casson and John Frank Adams. He earned his doctoral degree in 1973 with a thesis on algebraic L-theory. Ranicki received numerous awards and honors for his scientific achievements during his studies. From 1972 to 1977, he was a Fellow of Trinity College.[5]
From 1977 to 1982, he was assistant professor at Princeton University. In 1982, he began at the University of Edinburgh as a lecturer; in 1987, he was promoted to reader. In 1992, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[6] From 1995, Ranicki was the Chair of Algebraic Surgery at the University of Edinburgh.[7] Several times, he stayed as a visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn, most recently in 2011.[8]
Ranicki was married to American paleontologist Ida Thompson in 1979; they have a daughter. Ranicki suffered from leukemia; he died peacefully in the presence of his wife.[9]
A conference celebrating his legacy was held at the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (Edinburgh) in summer 2020.[10]