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Our community at ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ is sad to announce the death on 20 December 2024 of our Emeritus Fellow Dr Houshang Ardavan, former Director of Studies in Mathematics and a much-valued member of the College.

Houshang, a graduate of MIT and the University of Cambridge, where he took his PhD in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, began his academic career as a faculty member at the Department of Physics of Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, in his native Iran.

He became a Fellow of ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ on returning to Cambridge in 1987, overseeing Mathematics here as DoS until 2009. Working at the University’s Institute of Astronomy, his research interests were the radiation mechanism of neutron stars and the theoretical and experimental investigation of extended sources of electromagnetic radiation whose distribution patterns move faster than light in vacuum.

College President Dorothy Byrne paid tribute to Houshang as ‘a brilliant academic who we were fortunate indeed to have among us. I have been told how supportive he was to our students in mathematics. His belief in their talents was vital to their confidence and success.  He is remembered with great appreciation.’

Dr Anne Lonsdale, former President of ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ, said: 'Houshang was a quiet but important part of the College I came to as President in 1996. People took him seriously and his values were not loudly expressed but always listened to. He was a very steady and wise help to me and all in the College, particularly of course his students, and I hope his research work (that took so long to get the support it deserved) was satisfying to him and successful in the end.’

Having grown up in Iran, she added, Houshang ‘had not been brought up with the stupid Anglo-Saxon prejudice that "girls can't do Maths",' and was a generous tutor with high ambitions for his female students, who thrived thanks to his teaching. â€˜He was a very kind and thoughtful man.'

The College flag was flown at half-mast in tribute.