The Institute was greatly saddened by the passing of Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer, a Senior Fellow of INI for many years, on 26 December 2018 at the age of 91.
Sir Peter (full title "Professor Sir Henry Peter Francis Swinnerton-Dyer, 16th Baronet KBE FRS") will be best remembered for postulating one of the most important conjectures of 20th century mathematics: the Birch Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture. This historically challenging mathematical problem - which describes the set of rational solutions to equations defining an elliptic curve - has proven a rich source of inspiration for researchers since its inception, and directly influenced the work of figures such as Sir Andrew Wiles and his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.