Andrew Fowler





Contact details

Under construction!

Here I am (on the left) with a former graduate student, Giri Kalamangalam, in about 1995.









Biography

I came back to Corpus as Fellow and Tutor in Mathematics in 1985, having finished my thesis at Oxford (and at Corpus) in 1977. I teach the applied parts of the subject, and you can find more details on Mathematics in Corpus here, mainly in the form of information for prospective applicants to the College. The thing I have learned by teaching undergraduates all these years is that they pass through Oxford without ever learning how to think geometrically, or even how to draw diagrams or graphs. I try my best, and they all resolutely refuse. I have no idea why this is.

Research

Undergraduates must have a strange perception of what their tutors do. I imagine they suppose, not very much, since all they have to do is to teach them. It must be somewhat of a surprise if they proceed to graduate work, to discover (in my case) that I have a whole separate office in Dartington House, with its own collection of books, pot plants and computers; and that most of my work is centred here, based around doing research, supervising graduate students, writing papers and books, refereeing other papers, preparing lecture materials, etc. etc. For a peek at this part of my activities, look here.

Doing other things

I live out in the country, so I do lots of old guy things, like fix the house, do the garden, build the tree house, the hen house, etc. I grow (globe) artichokes, fantastic because they taste good and they are big plants. I also grow Jerusalem artichokes, not really on purpose now, more as a kind of huge weed.

When I first came back to Oxford in 1985, I coached the first eight, and even rowed several times for the schools eight. That was fun, but has since lapsed.

Football

I started training with the Corpus/Linacre football team when it was run by the great Kenny Linton. This must have been in the early 1990's. I played for some of the teams too, 2nds, 3rds and MCR, and still do, but less often. Age is catching up. My favourite recollection is of when the JCR challenged the SCR (!!) to a five a side game at the sportsground at the end of Trinity Term. It was the day England beat Scotland 2-0 at Wembley, at Euro96 I suppose. We had Kenny as a ringer, and the SCR won in a canter, 6-2.

Music

I play various instruments, and also write songs, and when I work out how to do it, I will maybe record some and put them here. Meanwhile, here is one I wrote under the spell of the Alps at a summer school in September 2000.