Ted Hurley Explained

Ted Hurley (born Thaddeus C. Hurley in 1944) is an Irish mathematician and professor specialising in algebra, specifically in group theory, group rings, cryptography, coding theory, and computer algebra. Most of his academic career was spent at University College Galway (later renamed National University of Ireland Galway, or simply NUI Galway). He was Head of Discipline of Mathematics there from 1996 to 2010.[1]

Education

Ted Hurley was born in September 1945 in Tuam, Co. Galway, Ireland, to James Hurley and Bridget Walsh. He earned his BSc (1965) and MSc (1966) from University College Galway (UCG), also winning the Peel Prize in Geometry and the Sir Joseph Larmor Prize. He was awarded a National University of Ireland Travelling Studentship Prize (1966), and was then appointed a Tutorial Research Fellow at Royal Holloway College, University of London, while conducting his doctoral research at nearby Queen Mary College. His 1970 thesis on "Representations of Some Relatively Free Groups in Power Series Rings" was done under Karl W. Gruenberg.[2]

Career

Hurley taught at Imperial College in London (1970-1971) and then at the University of Sheffield (1971-1974), before returning to Ireland. Hurley was a founding member of the Irish Mathematical Society in 1976, and served as its inaugural secretary (1977-1979).[3] After six years on the staff at University College Dublin (UCD), in 1980 he secured a position at his alma mater, University College Galway (later known as the National University of Ireland Galway), from which he officially retired in 2010. He was Lecturer in Mathematics there from 1980 to 1988, Associate Professor from 1988 to 1996, and Professor of Mathematics from 1996 on. He was also Head of Discipline of Mathematics from 1996 to 2010. He has been active in the years since formal retirement, publishing frequently.

He has also been a vocal public commentator on mathematics' education, including the importance of numeracy and mathematics to our lives, in the Irish print media[4] [5] and has also discussed these issues on popular national radio shows.[6]

Mathematics

Hurley's work was originally mostly in group theory, specifically on structural features of infinite groups (relatively free groups, commutators and powers in groups), and also group rings. Later, his interests expanded to include algebraic coding theory and cryptography.[7]

He has supervised three PhD students[2] and has co-edited several conference proceedings.[8]

Selected papers

Conference proceedings edited

Notes and References

  1. https://www.nuigalway.ie/our-research/people/mathematics-statistics-and-applied-mathematics/tedhurley/ Mathematics, Statistics & Applied Mathematics: Professor Ted Hurley
  2. https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=114124 Thaddeus (Ted) Christopher Hurley
  3. https://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/ims/bull51/M5103.pdf The Origins of the Irish Mathematical Society
  4. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/i-m-useless-at-maths-should-never-be-a-boast-1.2101716 ‘I’m useless at maths’ should never be a boast
  5. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/the-war-on-rote-learning-just-doesn-t-add-up-1.2203918 The war on rote learning just doesn’t add up
  6. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/maths-graduates-ideally-placed-for-dynamism-1.33299 Maths graduates ideally placed for dynamism
  7. https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Search/?query=T+C+Hurley T C Hurley papers
  8. https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/BMC/2009/ British Mathematical Colloquium held at Galway: 6-9 April 2009: Organized by T Hurley

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