Ruth Lawrence

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Ruth Elke Lawrence (born August 2, 1971) is an Associate Professor of mathematics at the Einstein Institute of Mathematics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a researcher in knot theory and algebraic topology.

Her 1990 paper, Homological representations of the Hecke algebra, in Communications in Mathematical Physics, introduced, among other things, certain novel linear representations of the braid group. In papers published in 2000 and 2001, Daan Krammer and Stephen Bigelow established the faithfulness of Lawrence's representation. This result goes by the slogan "braid groups are linear."

Outside of academic circles, she is best known for being a child prodigy.

Ruth was born in Huddersfield, England. Her parents, Harry and Sylvia Lawrence, were both computer consultants. When Ruth was five, her father gave up his job so that he could educate her at home.

At the age of eight, Ruth passed the O-level exam in mathematics, which was an age record at the time. At the age of nine she achieved a Grade A at A-level Pure Mathematics, an age record which still stands. In 1981 she passed the Oxford interview entrance examination in mathematics, coming first out of all 530 candidates sitting the examination for St Hugh's College, Oxford, and joining at the age of eleven.

At Oxford, her father continued to be actively involved in her education, accompanying her to all lectures and tutorials. Ruth completed her bachelor's degree in two years, instead of the normal three, and graduated in 1985 at the age of 13 with a starred first and special commendation. Attracting considerable press interest, she became the youngest British person to gain a first-class degree, and the youngest to graduate from the University of Oxford in modern times.

Ruth followed her first degree with a second degree in physics in 1986 and a DPhil in mathematics at Oxford in 1989. Her thesis title was Homology representations of braid groups and her thesis adviser was Sir Michael Atiyah.

Ruth's first academic post was at Harvard University, where she became a Junior Fellow in 1990 at the age of 19. In 1993, Ruth moved to the University of Michigan, where she became an Associate Professor with tenure in 1997. In 1999 Ruth emigrated to Jerusalem and took up the post of Associate Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In 1998, Ruth married the Israeli mathematician Ariyeh Neimark and changed her name to Ruth Lawrence-Neimark. The couple have two children, Yehuda Bezalel (born 2000) and Sarah Miriam (born 2001).