Editing David Singmaster (section)

==Career==
David Singmaster was a student at the [[California Institute of Technology]] in the late 1950s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://caltechcampuspubs.library.caltech.edu/449/1/1958_02_20_59_17.pdf|title=Candidates' statements - treasurer|page=9|publisher=The California Tech|date=20 February 1958}}</ref> His intention was to become a civil engineer, but he became interested in chemistry and then physics.<ref name="twisty"/><ref name="g4g2018">{{cite interview |last=Singmaster |first=David |subject= |subject-link= |interviewer=Dana Richards |title=An Interview with David Singmaster |type= |url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=abWpHc1XGyo  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/abWpHc1XGyo| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|format= |work=G4G Celebration |publisher=[[Gathering 4 Gardner]] |location= |date=April 2018 |access-date=25 June 2018 |quote=}}{{cbignore}}</ref> However he was thrown out of college in his third year for "lack of academic ability".<ref name="g4g2018"/> After a year working, he switched to the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref name="g4g2018"/> He only became really interested in mathematics in his final year when he took some courses in [[algebra]] and [[number theory]].<ref name="twisty"/> In the autumn semester, his number theory teacher [[Derrick Henry Lehmer|Dick Lehmer]] posed a prize problem which Singmaster won.<ref name="twisty"/><ref name="g4g2018"/> In his last semester, his algebra teacher posed a question the teacher didn't know the answer to and Singmaster solved it, eventually leading to two papers.<ref name="twisty"/> He gained his [[PhD]] from Berkeley, in 1966.<ref>{{MathGenealogy|id=32103}}</ref> He taught at the [[American University of Beirut]], and then lived for a while in [[Cyprus]].<ref name="airm">{{cite book |last=Singmaster |first=David |date=2021 |title=Adventures In Recreational Mathematics |page=xiii |publisher=World Scientific Publishing Company |isbn=9789811225642}}</ref>

Singmaster moved to [[London]] in 1970.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.footnotesaudiowalks.co.uk/about.php|title=About the Footnotes team|publisher=Footnotes audio walks|access-date=23 January 2017}}</ref> The "Polytechnic of the South Bank" had been created from a merger of institutions in 1970, and Singmaster became a lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences.<ref name="morallessons"/> His academic interests were in [[combinatorics]] and [[number theory]].<ref name="airm"/>

In August 1971 he joined an archaeological expedition off the coast of [[Sicily]], acting as photographer.<ref name="punic">{{Cite web|url=https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-discovery-of-the-marsala-punic-ship-honor-frost-foundation/2QWhIN7Uu9SK-Q?hl=en|title=The Discovery of the Marsala Punic Ship|publisher=Honor Frost Foundation|website=Google Arts & Culture|access-date=29 May 2022}}</ref> He went off course one day and noticed a timber sticking up out of the sand. This led to the discovery of the [[Marsala Ship|Marsala Punic Ship]].<ref name="punic"/>

Around 1972, he attended the Istituto di Matematica in [[Pisa]] for a year having won a research scholarship.<ref name="twisty"/> He was promoted to a Readership (a Research Professorship) at the South Bank Polytechnic in September 1984.<ref name="circ78"/> The polytechnic college became [[London South Bank University]] in 1992, and Singmaster was the professor of mathematics at the "School of Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics". He retired in 1996.<ref name="airm"/> He became an honorary research fellow at [[University College London]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0701/07011002|title=A lecture to get your head around|date=10 January 2007|publisher=University College London}}</ref> He was designated [[emeritus]] at [[London South Bank University]] in 2020.<ref name="airm"/>