1956-2022
A very good mathematician, and a great guy.
UPDATE (13/11/22)
Gareth Ainsworth and David Treeby, both now teaching at Scotch, and both former students of Robert (and me), have emailed quick reminiscences.
Gareth:
This is sad news indeed. I credit Robert with sparking my pursuit of higher level mathematics at university.
David:
Robert was always very generous with his time in helping me with my honours project. Marty, you’ll be appalled to know that the only thing I remember though, was when in the margins of a newspaper he showed me how handheld calculators never perform division.
Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time…
He was my lecturer for a subject called topology and integral transforms at Monash University. I wasn’t the strongest student by any stretch, but I always felt like he had time for me. Definitely a great guy.
Rest in peace
Robert’s quasilocal mass work was revolutionary and speaking with him had a huge impact on me personally. He was a true legend.
I had no mathematical interaction with Robert, and only heard him speak on a few precious and sometimes informal occasions. But I still wish to offer, besides my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends, my memory of an occasion at Monash where, in response to somebody having floated the idea of a well-known mathematician – the name does not matter here – be attracted to the department, he pointed in calm words to the importance of what he called a “pyramid” structure in a department in general. I definitely remember Robert’s use of that word, and am confident that he wanted to express that there was no point in trying to have a department purely consisting of megastars, which seemed to be essentially the direction that the (non-mathematician) higher-ups had resolved to take. This is all the more endearing because of Robert’s own eminence, of which I had been aware. The remarks by Robert gave me back a sense of some sanity in an academic environment that was, and would further be, shaken by momentous developments from 2010 on.