P007703 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

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 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 2025-05-13 human Helen Cohn updated 2025-10-27 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P007703b.htm person Oates-Williams Sheila AACR2 Oates, Sheila Oates MacDonald, Sheila 1965 1972 15 January 1939 12 August 2024 Place of Birth Ashton near Breage, Cornwall, United Kingdom Place of Death Birtinya, Queensland, Australia Mathematician Sheila Oates-Williams was a mathematician who used her expertise in universal algebra to investigate combinatorial problems, especially combinatorial designs. Her research interests extended to varieties of groups and of universal algebras. She was best known for the Oates-Powell theorem, a group theoretic analogue of Hilbert's basis theorem which establishes that every finite group is "finitely based". Oates-Williams was also widely recognised for setting problems for mathematics competitions, particularly the Australian Mathematics Competition and the 1988 International Mathematical Olympiad held in Canberra. For 13 years she served on the Problems Committee for the Australian Mathematics Competition. In 2002 she received the B. H. Neumann Award from the Australian Mathematics Trust. Oates-Williams retired in 1997 as Reader in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Queensland, having been a member of the Department for 30 years. 1962 1966 Career position - Lecturer (later Fellow), St Hilda's College, University of Oxford 1963 1963 Education - DPhil, University of Oxford 1967 1969 Career position - Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematics, University of Queensland 1967 2024 Award - Member (later Life member), Australian Mathematical Society 1969 1997 Career position - Reader, Department of Mathematics, University of Queensland 1981 1984 Career position - Associate Editor, Bulletin of the Australian Mathematical Society 1985 1989 Career position - Member of Council, Australian Mathematical Society 1985 1989 Career position - Editor, Bulletin of the Australian Mathematical Society 1997 1997 Life event - Retired 2002 2002 Award - B. H Neumann Award for Excellence in Mathematics Enrichment, Australian Mathematics Trust Australian Mathematical Society (1956 - )

Member (later Life Member) 1867 - 2024; Member of Council 1985 - 1989

 Bulletin of the Australian Mathematical Society, Australian Mathematical Society (1969 - )

Editor 1985 - 1989

 B. H. Neumann Award for Excellence in Mathematics Enrichment, Australian Mathematics Trust (1992 - )

Received the Award 2002

 The University of Queensland (1910 - )

Reader, Department of Mathematics 1969 - 1997

 'Oates-Williams, Sheila', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Oates-Williams, Sheila Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Journal Article: On the distance between distinct group Latin squares Donovan, D., Praeger, C. E. and Oates-Williams, S. On the distance between distinct group Latin squares 1997 Journal of combinatorial designs 5 235-48 Journal Article: Identical relations in finite groups Oates, S. and Powell, M. B. Identical relations in finite groups 1964 Journal of algebra 1 11-39 Resource: BH Neumann Award recipients Australian Mathematics Trust BH Neumann Award recipients Australian Mathematics Trust 2025 Journal Article: Sheila Oates-Williams 1939 - 2024 Donovan, Diane and Praeger, Cheryl Sheila Oates-Williams 1939 - 2024 2025 Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society 52 1 34-6