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Nicholas Higham

British mathematician specialized in numerical analysis

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ3710017
Source-derived summary

Nicholas John Higham (25 December 1961 – 20 January 2024) was a British numerical analyst. He was Royal Society Research Professor and Richardson Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Manchester.

Early life and career

Nicholas John Higham was born in Salford on 25 December 1961. He was educated at Eccles Grammar School, Eccles College, and the University of Manchester, from which he gained his B.Sc. in mathematics (1982), M.Sc. in Numerical Analysis and Computing (1983), and PhD in Numerical Analysis (1985). His PhD thesis was supervised by George Hall. He was appointed lecturer in mathematics at the University of Manchester in 1985, where he has been Richardson Professor of Applied Mathematics since 1998.

In 1988–1989 he was Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Research

Higham is best known for his work on the accuracy and stability of numerical algorithms.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Nicholas Higham” as british mathematician specialized in numerical analysis. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1961, 2024, 1982, 1983—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1961-12-25. The account is most persuasive where Nicholas, Higham and British can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as british mathematician specialized in numerical analysis. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3710017. VIAF identifies the subject as 115032886. The Library of Congress control number is n95090560. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 2024, 1982 and 1983.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Nicholas Higham”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Nicholas Higham primary sources, Nicholas Higham archive and Nicholas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Nicholas Higham” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.