Geoffrey Goodson

MSc Mathematics, 1971

I was born in South Africa, although all my education was in the UK, having attended Winchmore Hill Secondary Modern and Southgate Technical College in North London prior to a bachelor’s degree at Hull University.

After Hull, I did a master's degree at Warwick, graduating in 1970 under William Parry, and continued to a PhD in mathematics at Sussex University. Because of the difficulties of obtaining an academic position in the UK in 1972, and my South African roots, I took a lectureship at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. My PhD was awarded in in 1974, shortly after my marriage to fellow math lecturer Joyce Camillleri, who was originally from Cape Town. To be close to her family, in 1982 I took a position at the University of Cape Town (together with our 3 children).

The political situation didn't look good in South Africa so in 1987 I was fortunate to obtain a position at Towson University (near Baltimore) in the USA, where I eventually became a full professor. During this time I continued my mathematical research, and wrote an undergraduate textbook: Chaotic Dynamics, Fractal, TIlings and Substitutions. I retired from Towson after 28 years’ service and am now living on Maryland's Eastern Shore.