| | 1 | Name: | Dr. Garrett Birkhoff | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 1960 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 104. Mathematics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1911 | | | Death Date: | 11/22/96 | | | | |
| 2 | Name: | Dr. Benedict H. Gross | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 2017 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 104. Mathematics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1950 | | | | | | |
Benedict Gross has contributed decisively to number theory, algebraic geometry, modular forms and group representations. Gross and Don Zagier solved the class number problem which had been formulated by APS member Karl Friedrich Gauss in 1798. This problem was to give an algorithm to list all discrete rings embedded in the complex numbers with a given class number. The class number is a measure of the failure of unique factorization in the ring. (The analogous problem for the real numbers was already solved by the ancient Greeks. There is only one discrete ring embedded in the real numbers, namely the integers. Euclid in 300 BC proved that unique factorization holds in the integers, hence its class number is 1, the minimum possible value.) The theorem of Gross and Zagier was one of the major achievements in number theory of the 20th century. Gross is an expert on analytic number theory, which exploits the striking relationships between analysis, in the sense of calculus, and arithmetic in the sense of counting. He has made many many diverse discoveries. Most recently, he has explored the role of exceptional Lie groups in number theory. His development of arithmetic invariant theory with Manjul Bhargava promises to generate a whole new field of future research. Together with Joe Harris, he developed a mathematics course for non-mathematicians at Harvard. This led to his popular book, The Magic of Numbers, co-authored with J. Harris, which provides a readable introduction to the patterns that emerge in number behavior and the often surprising applications of these patterns. | |
| 3 | Name: | Dr. George W. Mackey | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 1971 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 104. Mathematics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1916 | | | Death Date: | March 15, 2006 | | | | |
| 4 | Name: | Dr. Barry Mazur | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 2001 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 104. Mathematics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1937 | | | | | | |
Barry Mazur is one of the most distinguished mathematicians in America. In 1959 he astonished the mathematical world by introducing the "method of infinite repetition" to prove an appropriate version of the Schoenflies embedding theorem for spheres and other theorems about manifolds. For this work in topology he was awarded (jointly with M. W. Brown) the Veblen Prize of the American Mathematical Society in 1966. Thereafter he switched his attention to algebraic number theory, and in that field he won the Cole Prize in 1982. His work in number theory played a prominent role in the developments leading up to the solution of the Fermat problem a few years ago. He is recognized as a leading expositor in the field of number theory and is also deeply interested in philosophy and the history of mathematics. Dr. Mazur has been affiliated with Harvard University since 1959 and has held the title of Gerhard Gade University Professor since 1999. He won the National Medal of Science in 2012. | |
| 5 | Name: | Dr. Curtis T. McMullen | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 2023 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 104. Mathematics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1958 | | | | |
| 6 | Name: | Dr. Frederick Mosteller | | | Institution: | Harvard University & American Academy of Arts & Sciences | | | Year Elected: | 1961 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 104. Mathematics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1916 | | | Death Date: | July 23, 2006 | | | | |
| 7 | Name: | Prof. Andrew M. Gleason | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 1977 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 104. Mathematics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1921 | | | Death Date: | October 17, 2008 | | | | | | |
Mathematician Andrew Gleason is well known for his major part in the solution of "Hilbert's Fifth Problem," which concerns the characterization of lie groups. Following his undergraduate career at Yale University, he was appointed a Junior Fellow at Harvard University in 1946. He received an honorary M.A. from Harvard in 1953 and, after serving as assistant professor to professor of mathematics from 1950-69, he was named Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard. A member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Andrew Gleason retired from the Harvard faculty in 1992. | |
| 8 | Name: | Dr. Michael O. Rabin | | | Institution: | Hebrew University & Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 1988 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 104. Mathematics | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1931 | | | | | | |
Michael Rabin earned his M.Sc. from the Hebrew University and his Ph.D. from Princeton University, where he received his first academic appointment. Later he served as a visiting member of the Institute for Advanced Study and as a member of the faculty at the Hebrew University, serving as its Rector (Academic Head) from 1972-75. He was also Saville Fellow at Merton College, Oxford, and Steward Fellow at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. From 1982-94 he served on the IBM Science Advisory Committee. Dr. Rabin's research interests include complexity of computations, efficient algorithms, randomized algorithms, DNA to DNA Computing, parallel and distributed computation and computer security. Among his inventions are (with Y. Aumann and Y.Z. Ding) Hyper-Encryption, the first ever encryption scheme probably providing everlasting secrecy against a computationally unbounded adversary; (with S.Micali and J. Kilian) Zero Knowledge Sets, a new primitive for privacy and security protocols; and (with W. Yang and H. Rao) a micro chip for physical generation of a strong stream of truly random bits. Dr. Rubin's accomplishments have been recognized with awards including the ACM Turing Award in Computer Science, the ACM Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award, the Rothschild Prize in Mathematics, the Weizmann Prize in Exact Sciences, the IEEE Charles Babbage Award and the Harvey Prize for Science and Technology. He is a member or foreign honorary member to academies including the National Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Since 1980 he has been Albert Einstein Professor of Mathematics at Hebrew University and since 1983 has served as Thomas J. Watson, Sr., Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University. | |
| 9 | Name: | Dr. Shlomo Sternberg | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 2010 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 104. Mathematics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1936 | | | | | | |
Shlomo Sternberg is one of the foremost differential geometers of his generation and a mathematician who has shaped the subject with his extensive breadth and many scholarly contributions. His papers extend across many subjects, including Lie groups (finite and infinite dimensional), symplectic geometry and mechanics, quantum groups, scattering theory, conformal field theory - the list is long and inclusive of many subjects. He has written several books with V. Guillemin which are foundational references for research mathematicians in several fields, including Geometric Asymptotics (1977), Variations on a Theme by Kepler, (1990), and Symplectic Techniques in Physics (1990), as well as several of the basic graduate texts for students of mathematics and physics. He currently serves as George Putnam Professor of Pure and Applied Mathematics at Harvard University, having joined the Harvard faculty in 1959. He received his Ph.D. in 1956 from Johns Hopkins University. In 1980 he was made a permanent Fellow of the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies at Tel Aviv University. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences and was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society in 2010. | |
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