he worked for a brief period in industry, before returning to academia to complete his Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree supervised by George Temple in 1959.
[7][1] Tayler was a distinguished applied mathematician who made important contributions in a wide range of areas (notably lubrication theory, surface gravity waves and viscous dissipation), but his key contribution to science was as the driving force behind the establishment of what is often called "mathematics-in-industry" or "industrial mathematics" (i.e. the application of mathematical approaches to the modeling and analysis of a wide range of real-world problems) as a recognized scientific discipline in its own right.
His philosophy is perfectly exemplified by the Oxford (now European) Study Groups with Industry which he and Professor Leslie Fox created in 1968 and are still going strong today.
He was devoted to the College, and held several of its major offices, and also to the Oxford University Rugby Football Club (OURFC), of which he was President from 1990 to 1995.
[11] In 1982 Alan Tayler was jointly awarded (with James Lighthill) the IMA Gold Medal of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA)[12][13] for his services to applied mathematics, and in 1993 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1993 for his services to applied science and industry.