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Vicky Neale
Vicky Neale
Vicky Neale
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Victoria Ruth Neale (March 1984 – 3 May 2023)[2] was a British mathematician and writer. She was Whitehead Lecturer at Oxford's Mathematical Institute and Supernumerary Fellow at Balliol College.[3][4] Her research specialty was number theory. The author of the 2017 book Closing the Gap: The Quest to Understand Prime Numbers,[5][6] she was interviewed on several BBC radio programs as a mathematics expert.[7][8] In addition, she wrote for The Conversation and The Guardian.[9][10] Her other educational and outreach activities included lecturing at the PROMYS Europe high-school program[11] and helping to organize the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad.[12]

Key Information

Neale was born in 1984.[13] She obtained her PhD in 2011 from the University of Cambridge. Her thesis work, supervised by Ben Joseph Green, concerned Waring's problem.[3][1] She then taught at Cambridge while being Director of Studies in mathematics at Murray Edwards College,[12][14] before moving to Oxford in the summer of 2014.[15]

Neale died on 3 May 2023, at the age of 39.[16] She had been diagnosed with a rare type of cancer in 2021.[17]

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Vicky Neale

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Victoria Ruth Neale (1984–2023) was a British , academic, and renowned for her work in and her extensive contributions to and public outreach. Born in March 1984 in , she developed a passion for mathematics early on, attending Henry Beaufort School in and , where she excelled in her studies. Neale pursued her higher education at , earning a BA in 2005 and an MMath in 2006, before completing a PhD in 2011 under the supervision of Ben Green. Her doctoral thesis, titled Bracket quadratics as asymptotic bases for the natural numbers, focused on generalizing in , exploring asymptotic bases for representing natural numbers. Following her PhD, she served as a and Director of Studies in at , from 2009 to 2013, and as a Senior Teaching Associate (also referred to as ) in the Department of and at the from 2011 to 2013. In 2014, she joined the as a Whitehead at the Mathematical Institute and Supernumerary at Balliol College, where she taught undergraduate courses and mentored students until her death. Neale's research centered on number theory and combinatorics, though she increasingly dedicated her career to teaching and outreach, earning acclaim as an exceptional educator who made complex mathematical concepts accessible to diverse audiences. She authored several influential books, including Closing the Gap: The Quest to Understand Prime Numbers (Oxford University Press, 2017), which explores breakthroughs in prime number gaps and has been translated into Japanese, and Why Study Mathematics? (London Publishing Partnership, 2020), a guide for prospective mathematics students highlighting the subject's practical and intellectual rewards. Earlier works include An Introduction to Number Theory (2005) and An Introduction to Proof by Contradiction (2005, co-authored with Katherine Körner). Her teaching excellence was recognized with the Oxford Students’ Union Lecturer Award in 2015, the Oxford Teaching Award in 2016, and the Vice Chancellor’s Education Award in 2020. Beyond academia, Neale was a prominent advocate for mathematics engagement, serving as Executive Director of PROMYS Europe since 2015, contributing to the UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT) challenges and summer schools, and delivering public lectures such as the Copson Lecture in 2017. She hosted the Maths + Cancer podcast, drawing on her personal experiences with illness to discuss and resilience, and was elected President Designate of the Mathematical Association in 2023, set to assume the role in April 2024. Neale passed away on 3 May 2023 in at the age of 39 after a battle with cancer, leaving a lasting legacy as an inspiring role model in , including the posthumous establishment of the Vicky Neale Scholarship at the in 2024 to support undergraduate students; a memorial service was held at the Oxford Mathematical Institute on 11 November 2023.

Early life and education

Childhood in England

Vicky Neale was born in March 1984 in , to a mother who worked as a secondary school teacher who taught and a father employed as an . When she was five years old, her family relocated to a small village just outside in . There, she attended Henry Beaufort School, the local comprehensive , where she quickly demonstrated a strong aptitude for . During her time at secondary school, Neale engaged deeply with the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT), taking part in its mathematical challenges and subsequent competitions, which further nurtured her enthusiasm for the subject. In parallel with her mathematical pursuits, Neale developed an early passion for music, learning to play both the piano and the oboe as a schoolgirl. These formative interests in mathematics and music shaped her intellectual development before she transitioned to undergraduate studies at the University of Cambridge.

Undergraduate studies at Cambridge

Vicky Neale graduated from in in 2002, achieving five A-grades at , which facilitated her admission to the . She began her undergraduate studies in at , in 2002, pursuing the , a rigorous honors degree program known for its depth and intensity. Neale completed Part II of the Tripos and was awarded a (BA) degree in 2005. Continuing her studies at Trinity College, Neale undertook Part III of the Mathematical Tripos, an advanced master's-level course, and earned a (MMath) in 2006, demonstrating her strong academic performance in . During her undergraduate years, she engaged in early outreach activities, including editing the March 2004 issue of Eureka, the journal of the Cambridge University Mathematical Society, and collaborating on educational resources for the NRICH project during summer vacations in 2004 and 2005, such as co-authoring introductions to and proof by contradiction. Prior to starting at , while still at , Neale contributed solutions to student problems 2002.1 and 2002.2 in the July 2002 issue of The Mathematical Gazette, showcasing her early talent in problem-solving.

PhD research at

Vicky Neale was awarded her PhD in 2011 from the , where she conducted in and additive combinatorics. Her doctoral thesis, titled Bracket quadratics as asymptotic bases for the natural numbers, was supervised by Ben Green. The work generalized aspects of , a classical question in concerning the representation of natural numbers as sums of kth powers. Neale specifically investigated "bracket quadratics"—a class of quadratic forms—and determined conditions under which they form asymptotic bases for the natural numbers, meaning that every sufficiently large can be expressed as a sum of a bounded number of such forms. This exploration extended earlier results on bases formed by powers, providing new insights into the additive structure of quadratic expressions. During her PhD studies, Neale transitioned to part-time teaching responsibilities, including an appointment as Director of Studies in at Murray Edwards College, a one-year role that could be extended while she completed her . This position allowed her to balance advanced research with undergraduate supervision, marking the beginning of her commitment to mathematical education alongside her scholarly pursuits.

Academic career

Teaching roles at Cambridge

Following her PhD, Vicky Neale held the position of Director of Studies in at Murray Edwards College, a women-only constituent college of the . She began this role part-time in 2009 while completing her doctoral studies at . Upon earning her PhD in 2011, the position transitioned to full-time, where she oversaw the academic progress of mathematics students and coordinated their supervision arrangements until 2014. In her teaching duties at Cambridge, Neale delivered undergraduate courses focused on and associated areas within the . For instance, during 2013, she lectured the Part II course in the Department of and . These responsibilities extended to providing supervisions—small-group teaching sessions—that emphasized problem-solving and conceptual depth in and related topics, drawing on her research expertise. Neale's role at Murray Edwards College also involved dedicated mentorship of female students, offering academic advice, emotional support, and encouragement to pursue advanced studies in the field. This aligned closely with the college's mission to foster women's and success in STEM disciplines, where she served as a and advisor for undergraduates navigating the rigors of the system. In 2014, Neale relocated to the to take up a lecturing position.

Positions at the University of Oxford

Vicky Neale joined the University of Oxford in 2014 as the Whitehead Lecturer at the Mathematical Institute, a position dedicated to advancing undergraduate education in mathematics. In this role, she delivered lectures and tutorials primarily in pure mathematics, contributing to the core curriculum for mathematics students at the institution. In 2016, Neale was appointed Supernumerary Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, which complemented her lecturing duties by providing additional support for both teaching and research initiatives within the college. This fellowship allowed her to mentor students and participate in academic governance, enhancing the interdisciplinary environment at Balliol while maintaining her focus on pure mathematics pedagogy. Neale sustained her commitment to undergraduate lecturing in through these positions until 2023.

Research contributions

Work on Waring's problem

Vicky Neale's research on Waring's problem centered on a involving bracket quadratics, exploring their role as asymptotic bases in . Waring's problem, originally conjectured by Edward Waring in 1770, asks whether every can be represented as a sum of at most g(k)g(k) kk-th powers of nonnegative integers, with g(k)g(k) denoting the smallest such number. Neale's work extended this framework to quadratic forms that deviate from perfect powers, focusing on their capacity to represent large integers through bounded sums. In her 2011 PhD thesis at the , supervised by Ben Green, Neale defined bracket quadratics as the set B={n⌊n2⌋:n∈N}B = \{ n \lfloor n \sqrt{2} \rfloor : n \in \mathbb{N} \}
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