History

Chike Obi: First Nigeria’s Doctor Of Mathematics

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<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"g6d3bM7Z" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"1e3Rylfe" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Chike Obi &lpar;April 17&comma; 1921 – March 13&comma; 2008&rpar; was a Nigerian politician&comma; mathematician&comma; and professor&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He was the first Nigerian to hold a doctorate in mathematics&period; Dr&period; Obi&&num;8217&semi;s early research dealt mainly with the question of the existence of periodic solutions of non-linear ordinary differential equations&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"m2oXrsA4" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He successfully used the perturbation technique&comma; and several of his publications greatly helped to stimulate research interest in this subject throughout the world and have become classics in the literature&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Obi is the author of several books and journals on mathematics and Nigerian politics&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Obi was educated in various parts of Nigeria before reading mathematics as an external student of the University of London&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Immediately after his first degree&comma; he won a scholarship to do research study at Pembroke College&comma; Cambridge&comma; followed by doctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology&period;in Cambridge&comma; Massachusetts&comma; United States&comma; becoming in 1950&comma; the first Nigerian to receive a Ph&period;D&period; in mathematics&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Obi returned to lecture at the premier Nigerian University of Ibadan&period; He was soon diverted from this by political activities&period; After the war&comma; he returned to lecture in 1970 at the University of Lagos where he quickly rose to the senior academic role of a professor&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nigeriantracker&period;com&sol;2020&sol;11&sol;10&sol;frcn-kaduna-and-social-awareness-in-northern-nigeria&sol;">FRCN Kaduna And Social Awareness In Northern Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He left Lagos to return to his root in the city of Onitsha&comma; establishing the Nanna Institute for Scientific Studies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Obi had won the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;skc&period;kth&period;se&sol;en&sol;sigvardeklundspris&sol;om-sigvard-eklunds-pris-1&period;423516">Sigvard Eklund Prize<&sol;a> for original work in differential equations from the International Centre for Theoretical Physics&period; He was a university teacher until his retirement as an Emeritus Professor in 1985&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In 1997&comma; he became the third person to solve Fermat’s Last Theorem after Andrew Wiles and Richard Taylor in 1994&period; He also found an elementary proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem&period; This work was carried out at his Nanna Institute for Scientific Studies in Onitsha&comma; Eastern Nigeria and published in Algebras&comma; Groups&comma; and Geometries&period; However&comma; a review of this proof published in Mathematical Reviews indicates that it was false proof&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In Ibadan&comma; Obi began to give lectures about his political philosophy&comma; Kemalism&comma; and how best he felt the country should be managed&period; He helped form the Dynamic Party of Nigeria&comma; of which he served as its first secretary-general&period; Through the party&comma; he stood in as a candidate in a parliamentary election in Ibadan in 1951 but lost&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The party later entered into alliances with the larger National Council of Nigerian and Cameroon and also the Action Group&period; Obi was elected as part of the Nigerian delegation that negotiated the country’s path to self-rule at two London conferences in 1957 and 1958&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After Nigeria’s independence from Britain in 1960&comma; Obi was elected a legislator in the Eastern House of Assembly 1960&comma; he refused to vacate his seat in the national legislature in Lagos&comma; the Speaker of the regional house ordered that Obi be physically removed by security agents&period; This order was obeyed and Obi decided to commit himself to regional affairs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In 1962&comma; Obi was arrested and charged with treason in a closed trial organized by the then national civilian government&comma; who accused him and others&comma; including the main opposition leader at the time&comma; Obafemi Awolowo&comma; of plotting to overthrow the government&period; He was later released for &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;want of evidence&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When the Nigerian Civil War broke out in 1967&comma; Obi sided with Biafra&comma; working for  Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu&period; For a brief period in the 1970s when he served in the National Revenue Mobilization Commission&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Obi derided religion and ethnic extremism&comma; and the culture of corruption pervading the Nigerian political class&period; He was a national newspaper columnist in the 1980s&comma; writing under the title&comma; &&num;8220&semi;I speak For the People&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A visiting professor to the University of Rhode Island&comma; USA&comma; the University of Jos&comma; Nigeria&comma; and the Chinese Academy of Science&comma; Obi was a recipient of the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger &lpar;CON&rpar; and a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When Obi died in 2008 he was survived by his wife until 2010&period; Obi&&num;8217&semi;s wife Belinda died in early 2010 a nurse and they are survived by their four children&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Credit &colon; Igbo History<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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