FRANK PLUMPTON RAMSEY

( 1903-1930 )

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Ramsey entered Winchester College in 1915 and from there he won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge to study mathematics. At Cambridge, Ramsey became a senior scholar in 1921 and graduated as a Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos of 1923. After graduating, Ramsey went to Vienna for a short while, returning to Cambridge where he was elected a Fellow of King's College Cambridge in 1924. Ramsey was only the second person ever to be elected to a Fellowship at King's College having not previously studied at King's.

His paper on mathematics On a Problem of Formal Logic was read to the London Mathematical Society on 13 December, 1928 and published in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society in 1930. This examined methods for determining the consistency of a logical formula and it includes some theorems on combinatorics which have led to the study of a whole new area of mathematics called Ramsey theory.  The celebrated paper of Ramsey [in 1930] has stimulated an enormous study in graph theory. Most certainly Ramsey theory is now an established and growing branch of combinatorics.

Ramsey suffered an attack of jaundice in 1930 and was taken to Guy's Hospital in London for an operation. He died following the operation at only 27 years of age.

Additional information:  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Plumpton_Ramsey

Photo courtesy of:

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Thumbnails/Ramsey.jpg

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