Peter Ransom Awarded MBE 3 July 2019

Peter Ransom Awarded MBE

We are absolutely delighted to share the wonderful news that our very own Chair of Council Peter Ransom was awarded an MBE for voluntary services to mathematics education.

Peter started teaching mathematics in state schools in September 1977 to students aged 11 to 18 years old. After teaching in three schools he was then employed in 1994 by SMP, the Schools Mathematics Project, to write textbooks for the age range 11-16.

When that work was completed in 1998, he returned to teaching 11-16 year olds in state secondary schools. While at The Mountbatten School in Romsey, he edited the HPM Newsletter from 2000-2004, supported by his school which distributed the newsletter.

Peter was delighted to receive notification of the MBE, with the citation ‘For voluntary service to mathematics education’. He has contributed to many mathematical communities in the UK (MA, IMA, BSHM, LMS, ATM, UKMT, Ri and Secretary for BCME9) and abroad since joining The Mathematical Association (MA) in 1980 and becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) in 1991.
 

He met John Fauvel in 1990 and worked with him on History in the Mathematics Classroom. This inspired him to join the BSHM and incorporate more history into his teaching and subsequently he distributed the BSHM Newsletter for a number of years and spent three years as Membership Secretary of the BSHM. He was President of the MA from 2013-14 and in 2015 became Chair of the MA Council, an office he holds until April 2020.

Peter does a number of mathematical sessions in period costume to students of all ages from 8 to 98. All this would not be possible without the help and support of his wife, Janet, daughters Madeleine and Claire and grandsons that help him keep a grip on reality. To relax he enjoys crosswords, bookbinding, sundials and playing the oboe. He is known to travel with a sword and cannon balls to many parts of the globe.