 Atiyah spent the academic year 1955–1956 at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, then returned to Cambridge University, where he was a research fellow and assistant lecturer (1957–1958), then a university lecturer and tutorial fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge (1958–1961).In 1961, he moved to the University of Oxford, where he was a reader and professorial fellow at St Catherine's College (1961–1963).He became Savilian Professor of Geometry and a professorial fellow of New College, Oxford, from 1963 to 1969.