Biography Richard K. Guy

1 biography

1.1 life
1.2 war years
1.3 1950s present

biography
early life

guy born 30 september 1916 in nuneaton, warwickshire, england, adeline augusta tanner , william alexander charles guy. both of parents teachers, rising rank of headmistress , headmaster, respectively. attended warwick school boys, third oldest school in britain, not enthusiastic of curriculum. @ sports, however, , excelled in mathematics. @ age of 17 read dickson s history of theory of numbers. said better whole works of shakespeare. future set. had developed passion mountain climbing.

in 1935 guy entered gonville , caius college, @ university of cambridge result of winning several scholarships. win important of these had travel cambridge , write exams 2 days. interest in games began while @ cambridge became avid composer of chess problems. in 1938, graduated second-class honours degree; himself thinks failure first may have been related obsession chess. although parents advised against it, guy decided become teacher , got teaching diploma @ university of birmingham. met future wife nancy louise thirian through brother michael fellow scholarship winner @ gonville , caius college. , louise shared loves of mountains , dancing. wooed through correspondence, , married in december 1940.

the war years

in november 1942, guy received emergency commission in meteorological branch of royal air force, rank of flight lieutenant. posted reykjavik, , later bermuda, meteorologist. tried permission louise join him refused. while in iceland, did glacier travel, skiing , mountain climbing, marking beginning of long love affair, 1 snow , ice. when guy returned england after war, went teaching, time @ stockport grammar school, stayed 2 years. in 1947 family moved london, got job teaching math @ goldsmiths college.

1950s present

in 1951 moved singapore, taught @ university of malaya next decade. spent few years @ indian institute of technology in delhi, india. while in india, , louise went mountaineering in foothills of himalayas. guy moved canada in 1965, settling down @ university of calgary in alberta, obtained professorship. though officially retired in 1982, still goes office 5 days week work, @ age of 100.

in 1991 university of calgary awarded him honorary doctorate. guy claims gave him degree out of embarrassment, university tells differently saying, extensive research efforts , prolific writings in field of number theory , combinatorics have added underpinnings of game theory , extensive application many forms of human activity. guy , wife louise (who died in 2010) remained committed mountain hiking , environmentalism lives. in 2014, donated $100,000 alpine club of canada training of amateur leaders. alpine club has in turn honoured them building louise & richard guy hut near base of mont des poilus. has 3 children, among them computer scientist , mathematician michael j. t. guy.