Warren receiving his Erdös award from Professor Hyman Bass.

Warren Atkins OAM

Born 18 October 1938
Died 24th November 2025

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Bruce Henry, a beloved member of the mathematics community.

Warren would often joke about his height, and it is true that, by any metric standard, he was not a man of great stature. However, when it comes to the history of the Australian Maths Trust, he was undoubtedly a giant. Warren started out as a high school mathematics teacher but soon found out that his vocation was to teach teachers and he moved to a position at the Canberra College of Advanced Education where he was in charge of the training of secondary maths teachers for almost thirty years. In 1976, along with colleagues Peter Taylor, Jo Edwards and Peter O’Halloran, Warren, as Chairman of the Problems Committee, was responsible for producing the very first High School Mathematics Competition in 1976, which was so successful that, by 1978, it had morphed into a national competition, the Australian Mathematics Competition.

Warren continued on the Problems Committee for an astonishing 44 years, only stepping down in 2022. For most of that time (1976 – 79 and 1981 – 2012) he was the committee chair, and in 2003 he was instrumental in setting up a second problems committee to develop primary divisions of the competition, which began in 2004.

Warren was a member of the Australian Mathematics Foundation from 1976 – 2012 and was the Chair of that body from 1995 – 2012. He was also deeply involved in the establishment of the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions (WFNMC) and at the inaugural meeting of this body in 1984, he took on the role of editing the Foundation newsletter and was appointed as editor of the Federation journal Mathematics Competitions, a role which he continued until 2004. Along with Peter Taylor, Warren was also responsible, for many years, for the in-house editing of Solutions and Statistics books for the AMC and the publication of a number of books on problem-solving. Warren has also been a member of the AMOC committee. He received the BH Neumann award from the Trust in 1993. The WFNMC honoured Warren with the Erdős award in 2004 and he received an OAM in 2018 for his services to mathematics education.

Impressive though this list of achievements is, it does not capture Warren, the man. An active sportsman, Warren was still swimming regularly and playing tennis until shortly before his final illness. He was a man of great warmth and charm, who, along with his wife Naida, ensured that all problems committee members felt welcome as a part of the AMT community. Warren’s leadership style was all about building trust and confidence and valuing all contributions. I had the great privilege of taking over from Warren as Chair of the Problems committees in 2012 and he prepared me for this role over a number of years and was always there to support me. Colleagues have spoken to me about Warren’s generosity of spirit and gentle humour and I don’t think any committee members thought of the work as a chore, because Warren made it such an enjoyable experience for everybody.

Warren was famous for his problem cards. In the days before everything became computerised, every question submitted would be stuck on an index card and when papers were in preparation, these cards would be shuffled around on the table to produce the best possible paper. Warren always lamented that the giant repository of cards which constituted questions submitted but not used, was a valuable resource and that more should be done with it. I believe these boxes of cards are still sitting in a cupboard somewhere in the AMT office!

It is incredibly sad that in 2025, we have lost two of the giants in the history of the AMT in Bruce Henry and Warren Atkins.

Mike Clapper, Canberra