Hallard Croft

Hallard Thomas Croft (15 April 1936 – 15 September 2025) was an English mathematician.^[1]

Hallard Croft
Born	(1936-04-15)15 April 1936 Bromley, England
Died	15 September 2025(2025-09-15) (aged 89)
Alma mater	Peterhouse, Cambridge
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	University of Cambridge
Doctoral advisor	John Edensor Littlewood

Life and career

Born in Bromley, he was educated at City of London School^[2] and earned a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1961, under John Edensor Littlewood's supervision.^[3] A fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, from 1963 to 2003,^[2] in 1967 he invented a geometric shape called Croft's Tortoise and in 1991 he co-authored Unsolved Problems in Geometry with Kenneth Falconer and Richard K. Guy.^[4]

Croft clashed with Hugh Trevor-Roper after the latter became Master of Peterhouse in 1980 when Croft was Director of Studies in mathematics and Senior Fellow;^[2][5] Croft's conservatism led him to deeply dislike Trevor-Roper, and the upshot was that he was re-elected as a Fellow in 1983 without his seniority. Friends suggested that Trevor-Roper disliked Croft because of his homosexuality.^[2][5]