David Masser

David Masser
David Masser

David Masser
Born 1948 (age 62–63)
London
Nationality  United Kingdom
Fields Mathematics
Institutions University of Basel
Alma mater University of Cambridge
Doctoral advisor Alan Baker
Doctoral students Daniel Kornhauser
Paula Tretkoff
Noel Wass
Known for abc conjecture

David William Masser (born 1948) is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Basel, in Basel, Switzerland. He obtained his Ph.D. from University of Cambridge in 1974 on the topic of Elliptic Functions and Transcendence.

Before his appointment at the Mathematics Institute in Basel, Masser taught at the University of Michigan. He is known for his work in number theory, and was elected to the Royal Society in 2005.

Along with Joseph Oesterlé, Masser formulated the abc conjecture in 1985. It has been stated that this conjecture "is the most important unsolved problem in Diophantine analysis".[1] An example of diophantine analysis would be the attempt to solve Fermat's last theorem.

References

  1. ^ Goldfeld, Dorian (March/April 1996), "Beyond the last theorem", The Sciences: 34–40 .

External links