藍色情懷

今日數學家

Irving Kaplansky

這是整個20世紀相當優秀的代數學家，意想不到的是這位在今年6月25日去世了。下面是美國數學會6月26日的新聞：

Kaplansky died on June 25 at the age of 89. He made significant contributions to algebra and other fields, and was the author of many important texts. He was on the winning team, from the University of Toronto, of the first Putnam competition in 1938 and was the first Putnam Fellow. Kaplansky received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1941 under the direction of Saunders Mac Lane. He taught at the University of Chicago from 1945 to 1984, serving as chair from 1962 to 1967. Kaplansky was director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute from 1984 to 1992. He was very active in AMS governance and in its publications, serving as AMS president from 1985 to 1986. Kaplansky was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was an honorary member of the London Mathematical Society. He received the Leroy P. Steele Prize Career Award (now called Lifetime Achievement) in 1989 for "his lasting impact on mathematics, particularly mathematics in America." In his response to the award, he gave this advice: "spend some time every day learning something new that is disjoint from the problem on which you are currently working (remember that this disjointness may be temporary), and read the masters." More information about Kaplansky is available online.

 6月25 日，89歲高齡的卡普蘭斯基逝世。他在代數學等領域作出了傑出的貢獻，並且是許多重要的教科書的作者。他是1938年在普特南競賽中取勝的多倫多大學團隊 的一員，並且是第一屆普特南獎得主。1941年，卡普蘭斯基在萊恩的指導下獲得哈佛大學的博士學位。1945年到1984年他在芝加格大學任教，並在 1962到1967年出任系主任。從1982年到1992年他擔任msri的所長。1985年到1986年擔任美國數學會主席期間，他在ams的行政和公 眾事務中都很活躍。卡普蘭斯基是國家科學院、藝術與科學學院成員，並且是倫敦數學會榮譽會員。1989年，由於他「對數學尤其是美國數學的持續影響」而獲 得了斯迪爾終身成就獎，在他的得獎發言中，他提出了這樣的建議：「每天花一點時間學習一些新的東西（也許）會讓擾亂你當前研究的問題（（但是）要記住這種 擾亂是暫時的），要閱讀大師（的作品）」。在線查看關於卡普蘭斯基的更多信息。