David Rees (mathematician)
| David Rees | |
|---|---|
| Born |
29 May 1918 Abergavenny, Wales |
| Died | 16 August 2013 (aged 95) |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
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| Spouse(s) | Joan S. Cushen (m. 1952) |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Exeter |
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David Rees ScD Cantab, FIMA, FRS (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 was born in Abergavenny. He won a scholarship to Downing College, Cambridge. At some stage, his university career took a backseat as he was drafted into Hut 6, Bletchley Park for the war effort.
On completion of his education, he initially worked on semigroup theory, and Rees factor semigroup is named after him. He also gave a characterisation of completely simple and completely 0-simple semigroups, nowadays known as Rees's theorem. The matrix-based semigroups used in this characterisation 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. In 1956 he introduced the Rees decomposition of a commutative algebra.
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