Onitsha - Nigeria, and indeed the world,  has lost a gem and a mathematician, Emeritus Professor Chike Ediozien Umuezei Obi, who died yesterday, at age 87 years. The professor was one of the finest and first generation of Nigerian Mathematicians. He had been battling with a long time illness before passing on in his home town of Onitsha yesterday. Professor Obi with James Ezeilo and Adegoke Olubunmo pioneered modern Mathematics research in Nigeria.

Hundreds of Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike have drunk from their fountain of knowledge. He taught for many years mainly at the University of Lagos when he was made Emeritus Professor in 1985. He was also a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences.

The world renowned Mathematics scholar won the Ecklund Prize from the International Centre for Theoretical Physics for original work in Differential Equations, and pioneering works in Mathematics in Africa.

He earned his doctoral degree in 1950, specialising in Non-Linear Differential Equations at the Pembrooke College, University of Cambridge, England.

Besides his scholarly enterprise, Obi was also a political activist. He contributed to many publications on Mathematics and the Nigerian political system.

He successfully used the perturbation technique and much of his work has stimulated research throughout the world. In fact, much of his work has become classic literature, much like Isaac Newton and others.

A few years back, Obi shocked the world by announcing that without the aid of a computer, he had solved one of Mathematics most complicated problems, Fermats Last Theorem. Fermat was a 17th century Mathematician who came up with the theorem xn+yn=zn; where x,y,z, and n are positive integers, has no solution if n is greater than two.

Obi conducted his research on the problem in his office at the Nanna Institute of Scientific Studies, based in Onitsha. Obi in his work produced an elementary proof of the theorem. His work was placed in an international journal while many other countries celebrated the work.

Late Prof Obi who hailed from the popular Obiezeoba family of Ogboli Olosi Quarters was a member of the prestigious “Agbalanze Society” of Onitsha with a chieftaincy title of “Nnabuenyi.”

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