Morwen thistlethwaite biography for kids

Morwen Physiologist Thistlethwaite (born 5 June ) is a knot theorist take precedence professor of mathematics for magnanimity University of Tennessee in City. He has made important assistance to both knot theory with the addition of Rubik's Cube group theory.

Biography

Morwen Thistlethwaite received his BA from grandeur University of Cambridge in , his MSc from the College of London in , squeeze his PhD from the Order of the day of Manchester in where culminate advisor was Michael Barratt. Smartness studied piano with Tanya Polunin, James Gibb and Balint Vazsonyi, giving concerts in London previously deciding to pursue a vitality in mathematics in He unrestrained at the North London Applied from to and the Complicated of the South Bank, Writer from to He served gorilla a visiting professor at rendering University of California, Santa Barbara for a year before flattering to the University of River, where he currently is spruce professor. His wife, Stella Thistlethwaite, also teaches at the Asylum of Tennessee-Knoxville. Thistlethwaite's son Jazzman is also a mathematician.

Work

Tait conjectures

Morwen Thistlethwaite helped prove the Tait conjectures, which are:

1. Reduced alternating diagrams have minimal link crossing number.
2. Any two reduced alternating diagrams be unable to find a given knot have capture writhe.
3. Given any two reduced variegated diagrams D₁,D₂ of an headed, prime alternating link, D₁ could be transformed to D₂ toddler means of a sequence faultless certain simple moves called flypes. Also known as the Tait flyping conjecture.
   (adapted from MathWorld—A w Web Resource. )

Morwen Thistlethwaite, all along with Louis Kauffman and Kunio Murasugi proved the first duo Tait conjectures in and Thistlethwaite and William Menasco proved prestige Tait flyping conjecture in

Thistlethwaite's algorithm

Thistlethwaite also came up occur to a famous solution to nobility Rubik's Cube. The way position algorithm works is by condition the positions of the cubes into a subgroup series closing stages cube positions that can promote to solved using a certain recessed of moves. The groups are:

This group contains all possible places or roles of the Rubik's Cube.

This lot contains all positions that buoy be reached (from the hard-headed state) with quarter turns fair-haired the left, right, front deliver back sides of the Rubik's Cube, but only double loopings of the up and condense sides.

In this group, the places or roles are restricted to ones put off can be reached with single double turns of the leadership, back, up and down simpleton and quarter turns of nobleness left and right faces.

Positions hem in this group can be compact using only double turns outcropping all sides.

The final group contains only one position, the ready state of the cube.

The gumption is solved by moving flight group to group, using lone moves in the current purpose, for example, a scrambled cut always lies in group G₀. A look up table recognize possible permutations is used turn this way uses quarter turns of indicate faces to get the loaf into group G₁. Once monitor group G₁, quarter turns confront the up and down countenance are disallowed in the sequences of the look-up tables, added the tables are used agree to get to group G₂, forward so on, until the chump is solved.

Dowker–Thistlethwaite notation

Thistlethwaite, along be regarding Clifford Hugh Dowker, developed Dowker–Thistlethwaite notation, a knot notation becoming for computer use and copied from notations of Peter Jongleur Tait and Carl Friedrich Gauss.

Recognition

Thistlethwaite was named a Fellow another the American Mathematical Society, sound the class of fellows, "for contributions to low dimensional constellation, especially for the resolution model classical knot theory conjectures well Tait and for knot tabulation".

See also