Vaughan Jones

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This article is about the mathematician. For the Welsh soccer player, see

Sir Vaughan Jones

Jones in 2018

Born

Vaughan Frederick Randal

Jones

31 December 1952

, New Zealand

Died

6 September 2020

(aged 67)

Alma mater

Known for

Spouse

Martha Myers

Awards

(1990)

Scientific career

Fields

Institutions

Sir Vaughan Frederick Randal Jones

(31 December 1952 – 6 September 2020)

was a

mathematician known for his work on

and

. He was awarded a

in 1990.

Early life

[

]

Jones was born in

, on 31 December 1952.

He was

brought up in

, New Zealand, where he attended

subsequently transferred to

after winning the Gillies

Scholarship,

and graduated in 1969 from Auckland Grammar.

He went on to

complete his undergraduate studies at the

, obtaining a

BSc in 1972 and an MSc in 1973.

For his graduate studies, he went to

where he completed his PhD at the

in 1979.

His thesis, titled

Actions of finite groups on the hyperfinite II

factor

, was

written under the supervision of

, and won him the Vacheron

Constantin Prize.

Career

[

]

Jones moved to the United States in 1980.

There, he taught at the

(1980–1981), and the

(1981–1985), before being appointed as professor of mathematics at the

His work on

, with

the discovery of what is now called the

, was from an

unexpected direction with origins in the theory of

area of

already much developed by

It led to the

solution of a number of classical problems of

, to increased

interest in

and the development of

Jones taught at

as Stevenson Distinguished Professor of

mathematics from 2011 until his death.

He remained Professor Emeritus at

University of California, Berkeley, where he had been on the faculty from 1985

to 2011

and was a Distinguished Alumni Professor at the

Jones was made an honorary vice-president for life of the

in 1992.

The Jones Medal, created by the

in 2010, is named after him.

Personal life

[

]

Jones met his wife, Martha Myers, during a ski camp for foreign students while they were studying in Switzerland.

She was there as a

and subsequently became an associate professor of medicine, health and

society.

Together, they have three children.

Jones died on 6 September 2020 at age 67 from health complications resulting from a severe

Jones was a certified barista.

Honours and awards

[

]

1990 – awarded the

1990 – elected

1991 – awarded the

by the

1991 – awarded the degree of

by the

1991 – elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand

1992 – elected to the

as a Corresponding Fellow

1992 – awarded a

Professorship at the University of California Berkeley

2002 – appointed

(DCNZM) in the

, for services to mathematics

2009 – his DCNZM redesignated to a

in the

2012 – elected a Fellow of the

Publications

[

]

Jones, Vaughan F. R. (1980).

Jones, Vaughan F. R. (1983). "Index for subfactors".

(1):

1–

25.

Jones, Vaughan F. R. (1985).

. (N.S.).

103–

111.

Jones, Vaughan F. R. (1987). "Hecke algebra representations of braid groups and link polynomials".

. (2).

126

(2):

335–

388.

Goodman, Frederick M.; de la Harpe, Pierre; Jones, Vaughan F. R. (1989).

Coxeter graphs and towers of algebras

Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Publications. Vol. 14. Springer-Verlag.

Jones, Vaughan F. R. (1991).

Subfactors and knots

. CBMS Regional Conference Series in Mathematics. Vol. 80.

Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society.

Jones, Vaughan F. R.; Sunder, Viakalathur Shankar (1997).

Introduction to subfactors

. London Mathematical Society

Lecture Note Series. Vol. 234. Cambridge: