Norman Routledge
Norman Arthur Routledge was a British mathematician and schoolteacher. He was a personal friend of fellow mathematician Alan Turing.Life and career
Norman Routledge was born near Alexandra Park, north London, England. He was educated at Glendale County School, Wood Green, followed by King's College, Cambridge, where he read Mathematics. At Cambridge, he was supervised by Albert Ingham FRS and Kendall Dixon. He gained a first class degree in 1949 and went on to study for a PhD degree.
He taught as a scientific officer at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, RAE Farnborough, and the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, for his compulsory national service, before becoming a Fellow in Mathematics back at King's College in Cambridge. He was a friend of the mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing. Alan Turing wrote personal letters to Routledge towards the end of his life. After his arrest and before his trial, he sent the following cryptic syllogism to Routledge in 1952:
In 1957, Rouledge was photographed by Antony Barrington Brown. The photograph is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
In 1959, Sir Robert Birley, Headmaster at Eton College, asked him for a recommendation of any promising students for a mathematics teaching post and he suggested himself. He was considered an inspirational teacher, teaching among others Timothy Gowers FRS and Stephen Wolfram at Eton. Later in his life, he taught music for the Salvation Army community in Bermondsey, southeast London.
In 1992, Routledge was interviewed in the BBC programme The Strange Life and Death of Dr Turing. Routledge was a ranconteur, including on his personal life. In retirement towards the end of his own life, he was able to be more openly gay.Selected publications
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