Ruth Lawrence
Ruth Elke Lawrence (born
August 2,
1971) is an Associate Professor of
mathematics at the
Einstein Institute of Mathematics,
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a researcher in
knot theory and
algebraic topology. Outside of academic circles, she is best known for being a
child prodigy.
Ruth was born in
Huddersfield,
England. Her parents, Harry and Sylvia Lawrence, were both computer consultants. When Ruth was five, her father gave up his job so that he could
educate her at home.
At the age of eight, Ruth passed the
O-level exam in mathematics, which was an age record at the time. At the age of nine she achieved a Grade A at
A-level Pure Mathematics, an age record which still stands. In
1981 she passed the
Oxford interview entrance examination in mathematics, coming first out of all 530 candidates sitting the examination for
St Hugh's College, Oxford, and joining at the age of eleven.
At Oxford, her father continued to be actively involved in her education, accompanying her to all lectures and tutorials. Ruth completed her
bachelor's degree in two years, instead of the normal three, and graduated in
1985 at the age of 13 with a starred first and special commendation. Attracting considerable press interest, she became the youngest British person to gain a first-class degree, and the youngest to graduate from the
University of Oxford in modern times.
Ruth followed her first degree with a second degree in physics in
1986 and a
DPhil in mathematics at Oxford in
1989. Her thesis title was
Homology representations of braid groups and her thesis adviser was Sir
Michael Atiyah.
Ruth's first academic post was at
Harvard University, where she became a Junior Fellow in
1990 at the age of 19. In
1993, Ruth moved to the
University of Michigan, where she became an Associate Professor with tenure in
1997. In
1999 Ruth emigrated to
Jerusalem and took up the post of Associate Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
In
1998, Ruth married the
Israeli mathematician
Ariyeh Neimark and changed her name to Ruth Lawrence-Neimark. The couple have two children, Yehuda Bezalel (born
2000) and Sarah Miriam (born
2001).
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*
Ruth Lawrence's home page at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
*
1985: Teenage genius gets a first from the
BBC
