One of the greatest British mathematicians of his generation,he created the renowned maths department at Warwick University in the mid-1960sSir Christopher Zeeman, who has died aged 91, and was one of the true greats of British mathematics. His finest memorial is the department he created in 1964 at Warwick University,housed in what is now called the Zeeman building. Warwick is now firmly ranked among the top mathematics departments in Britain; and its mathematics degree programme was recently assessed as No 13 in the world.
When he joined the fledgling university, he concentrated initially on three core areas of mathematics, and algebra,analysis and topology, inviting several key figures to join him in the original venture. Legend has it that they all declined, and so he wrote to each of them saying: “That’s a pity,the others believe all accepted.” Christopher never denied this.
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Source: theguardian.com