R. M. Wilson

Not to be confused with Robert McLiam Wilson, Robert McNair Wilson, or Richard Middlewood Wilson.

R. M. Wilson
Born	Richard Michael Wilson (1945-11-23) 23 November 1945 (age 79) Gary, Indiana, US
Alma mater	Indiana University (BS) Ohio State University (MS, PhD)
Known for	Kirkman's schoolgirl problem
Scientific career
Fields	Combinatorics
Institutions	Caltech
Doctoral advisor	Dijen K. Ray-Chaudhuri[1]
Doctoral students	Jeff Dinitz[1] Pierre Baldi[1]
Website	www.math.caltech.edu/people/wilson.html

Richard Michael Wilson (23 November 1945) is a mathematician and a professor emeritus at the California Institute of Technology.^[2] Wilson and his PhD supervisor Dijen K. Ray-Chaudhuri, solved Kirkman's schoolgirl problem in 1968.^[3] Wilson is known for his work in combinatorial mathematics, as well as on historical flutes.

Education

Wilson was educated at Indiana University where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in 1966.^[2] followed by a Master of Science degree from Ohio State University in 1968. His PhD, also from Ohio State University was awarded in 1969 for research supervised by Dijen K. Ray-Chaudhuri.^[1]

Career and research

His breakthrough in pairwise balanced designs, and orthogonal Latin squares built upon the groundwork set before him, by R. C. Bose, E. T. Parker, S. S. Shrikhande, and Haim Hanani are widely referenced in combinatorial design theory and coding theory.^[4]

Musical career

Wilson is also one of the world's top experts on historical flutes.^[5]

References

1. Richard Michael Wilson at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
2. galvez, cherie. "Richard M. Wilson". www.math.caltech.edu.
3. Ray-Chaudhuri, D. K.; Wilson, Richard M. (1971). "Solution of Kirkman's schoolgirl problem". In Motzkin, Theodore S. (ed.). Combinatorics (University of California, Los Angeles, Calif., March 21–22, 1968). Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics. Vol. XIX. Providence, Rhode Island: American Mathematical Society. pp. 187–203. MR 0314644. Zbl 0248.05009. See reviews by Jane Di Paola (MR) and C. C. Yalavigi (Zbl).
4. Arasu, KT; Liu, X.; McGuire, G. (2012). "Preface: Richard M. Wilson, Special issue honoring his 65th birthday". Designs, Codes and Cryptography: 1–2.
5. Saenger, Katherine. "Rick Wilson And The "Old Flutes" Website" (PDF). NYCF Newsletter. New York Flute Club. Retrieved 12 April 2022.