“I have loved it all” he says of his outstanding mathematical career"
After six decades of shaping minds at the University of Sussex, Professor James, Hirschfeld, now 85, has swapped lecture halls for golf and Retirement Living at Lorne Court in Birmingham.
Born in 1940, he grew up in Sydney, Australia, after his Jewish parents fled there from Germany in 1938. After dabbling in acting - which he says helped him with his lecturing style - aged just 25, he joined the University of Sussex’s Department of Mathematics, advancing the field of finite geometry and becoming both a Dean and world leading researcher – as well as meeting his late wife there.
He says, “My children jokingly called me ‘James Dean’ when I became Dean of the School of Maths and Physics (MAPS) in 1988.”
Prof Hirschfeld adds that he has witnessed polytechnics becoming universities, the shift from handwritten letters to computing, physical to online teaching and the introduction of tuition fees across his sixty year career. However, “exams have remained the same.”
The Professor’s career in numbers
- Taught 15,000 undergraduate students
- Published around 80 research papers
- Founded the annual H Prize to honour top mathematics students
He can now enjoy a quieter pace of life at his pre-loved retirement property at Lorne Court, with plenty of golf and good conversation.
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