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{{short description|American mathematician (1878–1955)}}
'''Edward Kasner''' (1878-1955) was a prominent [[United States|American]] [[mathematician]], best remembered today for popularizing the term ''[[googol]]''.
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Edward Kasner
| image = PSM V70 D187 Edward Kasner.jpg
| image_size = | alt =
| caption = Photograph of Kasner dated 1907.
| birth_date = {{birth date|1878|04|02|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[New York City]], United States
| death_date = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|1955|01|07|1878|04|02|mf=y}}}}
| death_place = [[New York City]], United States
| nationality = American
| fields = [[Mathematics]]
| workplaces = [[Columbia University]]
| alma_mater = {{nowrap|[[City College of New York]] {{smaller|(BA)}}}}<br>{{nowrap|[[Columbia University]] {{smaller|(MA, PhD)}}}}
| doctoral_advisor = [[Felix Klein]]<br/>[[David Hilbert]]
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students =[[Rufus Isaacs (game theorist)|Rufus Isaacs]]<br/>[[Joseph Ritt]]<br/>[[Jesse Douglas]] <br/> [[Edna Kramer]]
| known_for = [[Kasner metric]]<br/>[[Kasner polygon]]<br/>"[[googol]]"
| awards =
}}


'''Edward Kasner''' (April 2, 1878&nbsp;– January 7, 1955) was an American [[mathematician]] who was appointed Tutor on [[Mathematics]] in the [[Columbia University]] Mathematics Department. Kasner was the first [[Jewish]] person appointed to a faculty position in the sciences at Columbia University.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121221005651/http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/stand_columbia/TimelineCUJew.html Columbia and the "Jewish Problem”]</ref> Subsequently, he became an adjunct professor in 1906, and a full professor in 1910, at the university. [[Differential geometry]] was his main field of study. In addition to introducing the term "[[googol]]", he is known also for the [[Kasner metric]] and the [[Kasner polygon]].<ref>Douglas, Jesse (1958) [http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/kasner-edward.pdf Edward Kasner, A Biographical Memoir] prepared for the ''National Academy of Sciences''.</ref>
Kasner studied at [[Columbia University]] under [[Cassius Keyser]]. He received his Ph.D. in [[1899]]; his dissertation was titled ''The Invariant Theory of the Inversion Group''.


==Education==
Around 1920, in order to pique the interest of children, Kasner wanted a catchy name for a very large number: one, followed by a hundred zeros. On a walk in New Jersey's Palisades with his nephews, Milton (c. 1911&ndash;1980) and Edwin Sirotta, Kasner asked for their ideas. Nine-year-old Milton suggested "googol". The Internet search engine [[Google]] was named as a play on the number googol. Kasner also coined the term "[[googolplex]]" for the number written as one followed by a googol zeros; the Google offices are called Googleplex for this reason.
Kasner's 1899 PhD [[dissertation]] at Columbia University was titled ''The Invariant Theory of the Inversion Group: Geometry upon a Quadric Surface''; it was published by the [[American Mathematical Society]] in 1900 in their ''Transactions''.


== Googol and googolplex ==
In 1940, with James Roy Newman, Kasner authored a semi-popular book surveying the entire field of mathematics called ''Mathematics and the Imagination'' ISBN 0486417034. It was in this book that the term "googol" was introduced.
Kasner is perhaps best remembered today for introducing the term "googol." In order to pique the interest of children, Kasner sought a name for a very large number: one followed by 100 zeros. On a walk in the [[New Jersey Palisades]] with his nephews, Milton (1911–1981)<ref>There have been several dates reported in the literature, ranging from 1911 to 1929, but only 1911 is consistent with family records (Bialik).</ref> and Edwin Sirotta, Kasner asked for their ideas. Nine-year-old Milton suggested "googol".<ref>{{cite journal | title = There Could Be No Google Without Edward Kasner | first = Carl | last = Bialik | journal = The Wall Street Journal Online | date = June 14, 2004 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB108575924921724042 }} (retrieved March 17, 2015)</ref>

In 1940, with [[James R. Newman]], Kasner co-wrote a non-technical book surveying the field of mathematics, called ''[[Mathematics and the Imagination]]'' ({{ISBN|0-486-41703-4}}). It was in this book that the term "googol" was first popularized:

{{quotation|Words of wisdom are spoken by children at least as often as by scientists. The name "[[googol]]" was invented by a child (Dr. Kasner's nine-year-old nephew) who was asked to think up a name for a very big number, namely, 1 with a hundred zeros after it. He was very certain that this number was not infinite, and therefore equally certain that it had to have a name. At the same time that he suggested "googol" he gave a name for a still larger number: "[[Googolplex]]." A googolplex is much larger than a googol, but is still finite, as the inventor of the name was quick to point out. It was suggested that a googolplex should be 1, followed by writing zeros until you get tired. This is a description of what would happen if one actually tried to write a googolplex, but different people get tired at different times and it would never do to have [[Primo Carnera|Carnera]] a better mathematician than [[Albert Einstein|Dr. Einstein]], simply because he had more endurance. The googolplex then, is a specific finite number, with so many zeros after the 1 that the number is a googol. A googolplex is much bigger than a googol. You will get some idea of the size of this very large but finite number from the fact that there would not be enough room to write it, if you went to the farthest star, touring all the [[nebulae]] and putting down zeros every inch of the way.|<ref>{{citation|first1=Edward|last1=Kasner|first2=James R.|last2=Newman|title=Mathematics and the Imagination|publisher=Tempus Books of [[Microsoft Press]]|year=1989|isbn=1-55615-104-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781556151040/page/23 23]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781556151040/page/23}}</ref>}}

The [[Internet]] search engine "[[Google]]" originated from a misspelling of "[[googol]]",<ref>Koller, David. "[http://graphics.stanford.edu/~dk/google_name_origin.html Origin of the name, "Google"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627081942/http://graphics.stanford.edu/~dk/google_name_origin.html |date=2012-06-27 }}, ''[[Stanford University]]'' January 2004.</ref><ref>Hanley, Rachael. "[http://daily.stanford.org/article/2003/2/12/fromGoogolToGoogle From Googol to Google: Co-founder returns] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214223016/http://daily.stanford.org/article/2003/2/12/fromGoogolToGoogle |date=2006-12-14 }}", ''[[The Stanford Daily]]'' February 12, 2003 (retrieved July 14, 2006).</ref><ref>Bylund, Anders. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060707062623/http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13720643/ To Google or Not to Google]", ''[[The Motley Fool]] via [[MSNBC]]''. July 5, 2006 (retrieved July 7, 2006).</ref> and the "[[Googleplex]]" (the Google company headquarters in [[Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California|Mountain View]], [[California]]) is similarly derived from ''[[googolplex]]''.
==Personal life==
Kasner was [[Jew]]ish and was the son of [[Austria]]n [[immigrant]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Kasner/#reference-4|title=Edward Kasner|work=MacTutor}}</ref>

==Works==
* {{cite journal | jstor = 1986367 | pages = 430–498 | last1 = Kasner | first1 = E. | title = The Invariant Theory of the Inversion Group: Geometry Upon a Quadric Surface | volume = 1 | issue = 4 | journal = [[Transactions of the American Mathematical Society]] | year = 1900 | doi = 10.1090/S0002-9947-1900-1500550-1 | hdl = 2027/miun.abv0510.0001.001 | url = http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ABV0510.0001.001 | hdl-access = free }}
* {{cite book
| last = Kasner | first = Edward
| year = 1980
| chapter = Differential-geometric aspects of dynamics
| orig-year = 1934
| editor = C. Carpelan |editor2=A. Parpola |editor3=P. Koskikallio
| title = The Logarithmic potential and other monographs
| pages = 235–263
| location = New York
| publisher = Chelsea
| isbn = 0-8284-0305-8
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Kasner | first = Edward
|author2=Newman, James R.
| title = [[Mathematics and the Imagination]]
| orig-year = London: Penguin, 1940; New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967
| publisher = Dover Pubns
| date = April 2001
| isbn = 0-486-41703-4
}}
* Edward Kasner and James R. Newman, ''[[Mathematics and the Imagination]]'', Tempus Books of [[Microsoft Press]], 1989. {{ISBN|1-55615-104-7}}
* {{cite journal
| last = Kasner | first = Edward
| title = The Ratio of the Arc to the Chord of an Analytic Curve Need Not Be Unity
| journal = Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society
| date = July 1914 | volume = 20 | pages = 524–31
| doi = 10.1090/S0002-9904-1914-02545-5
| issue = 10
| doi-access = free
}}
* {{cite journal
| last = Kasner | first = Edward
| title = Geometrical theorems on Einstein's cosmological equations
| journal = Amer. J. Math.
| year = 1921 | volume = 43 | pages = 217–221
| doi = 10.2307/2370192
| issue = 4
| publisher = The Johns Hopkins University Press
| jstor = 2370192
| bibcode = 1921AmJM...43..217K}}


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{Book reference | Author=Kasner, Edward | Year=1980 | Chapter=Differential-geometric aspects of dynamics (org. pub. 1934) | Editor=C.Carpelan, A.Parpola P.Koskikallio (ed.) | Title=The Logarithmic potential and other monographs | Pages=pp. 235-263 | Publisher=New York: Chelsea | ID=ISBN 0-828-40305-8}}
*Kasner, Edward & Newman, James Roy ''Mathematics and the Imagination'' (London: Penguin, [[1940]]; New York: Simon and Schuster, [[1967]]; Dover Pubns, April [[2001]], ISBN 0486417034).
*{{cite journal | author=Kasner, Edward | title=Gometrical theorems on Einstein's cosmological equations | journal=Amer. J. Math. | year=1921 | volume=43 | pages=217}}
*{{cite journal|title=There Could Be No Google Without Edward Kasner|first=Carl|last=Bialik|journal=The Wall Street Journal Online|date=[[June 14]] [[2004]]}}


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.google.com/corporate/history.html History from the Google website]
* [https://www.google.com/corporate/history.html History from the Google website]
* {{MathGenealogy|37342}}


{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1878 births|Kasner, Edward]]
[[Category:1955 deaths|Kasner, Edward]]
[[Category:American mathematicians|Kasner, Edward]]
[[Category:Contributors to differential geometry|Kasner, Edward]]
[[Category:Contributors to general relativity|Kasner, Edward]]
[[Category:19th century mathematicians|Kasner, Edward]]
[[Category:20th century mathematicians|Kasner, Edward]]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasner, Edward}}
[[de:Edward Kasner]]
[[lb:Edward Kasner]]
[[Category:1878 births]]
[[nl:Edward Kasner]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:Jewish American scientists]]
[[Category:Differential geometers]]
[[Category:19th-century American mathematicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American mathematicians]]
[[Category:City College of New York alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia University alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia University faculty]]
[[Category:American people of German-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American Jews]]

Latest revision as of 21:22, 30 April 2024

Edward Kasner
Photograph of Kasner dated 1907.
Born(1878-04-02)April 2, 1878
New York City, United States
DiedJanuary 7, 1955(1955-01-07) (aged 76)
New York City, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materCity College of New York (BA)
Columbia University (MA, PhD)
Known forKasner metric
Kasner polygon
"googol"
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsColumbia University
Doctoral advisorFelix Klein
David Hilbert
Doctoral studentsRufus Isaacs
Joseph Ritt
Jesse Douglas
Edna Kramer

Edward Kasner (April 2, 1878 – January 7, 1955) was an American mathematician who was appointed Tutor on Mathematics in the Columbia University Mathematics Department. Kasner was the first Jewish person appointed to a faculty position in the sciences at Columbia University.[1] Subsequently, he became an adjunct professor in 1906, and a full professor in 1910, at the university. Differential geometry was his main field of study. In addition to introducing the term "googol", he is known also for the Kasner metric and the Kasner polygon.[2]

Education[edit]

Kasner's 1899 PhD dissertation at Columbia University was titled The Invariant Theory of the Inversion Group: Geometry upon a Quadric Surface; it was published by the American Mathematical Society in 1900 in their Transactions.

Googol and googolplex[edit]

Kasner is perhaps best remembered today for introducing the term "googol." In order to pique the interest of children, Kasner sought a name for a very large number: one followed by 100 zeros. On a walk in the New Jersey Palisades with his nephews, Milton (1911–1981)[3] and Edwin Sirotta, Kasner asked for their ideas. Nine-year-old Milton suggested "googol".[4]

In 1940, with James R. Newman, Kasner co-wrote a non-technical book surveying the field of mathematics, called Mathematics and the Imagination (ISBN 0-486-41703-4). It was in this book that the term "googol" was first popularized:

Words of wisdom are spoken by children at least as often as by scientists. The name "googol" was invented by a child (Dr. Kasner's nine-year-old nephew) who was asked to think up a name for a very big number, namely, 1 with a hundred zeros after it. He was very certain that this number was not infinite, and therefore equally certain that it had to have a name. At the same time that he suggested "googol" he gave a name for a still larger number: "Googolplex." A googolplex is much larger than a googol, but is still finite, as the inventor of the name was quick to point out. It was suggested that a googolplex should be 1, followed by writing zeros until you get tired. This is a description of what would happen if one actually tried to write a googolplex, but different people get tired at different times and it would never do to have Carnera a better mathematician than Dr. Einstein, simply because he had more endurance. The googolplex then, is a specific finite number, with so many zeros after the 1 that the number is a googol. A googolplex is much bigger than a googol. You will get some idea of the size of this very large but finite number from the fact that there would not be enough room to write it, if you went to the farthest star, touring all the nebulae and putting down zeros every inch of the way.

— [5]

The Internet search engine "Google" originated from a misspelling of "googol",[6][7][8] and the "Googleplex" (the Google company headquarters in Mountain View, California) is similarly derived from googolplex.

Personal life[edit]

Kasner was Jewish and was the son of Austrian immigrants.[9]

Works[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Columbia and the "Jewish Problem”
  2. ^ Douglas, Jesse (1958) Edward Kasner, A Biographical Memoir prepared for the National Academy of Sciences.
  3. ^ There have been several dates reported in the literature, ranging from 1911 to 1929, but only 1911 is consistent with family records (Bialik).
  4. ^ Bialik, Carl (June 14, 2004). "There Could Be No Google Without Edward Kasner". The Wall Street Journal Online. (retrieved March 17, 2015)
  5. ^ Kasner, Edward; Newman, James R. (1989), Mathematics and the Imagination, Tempus Books of Microsoft Press, p. 23, ISBN 1-55615-104-7
  6. ^ Koller, David. "Origin of the name, "Google" Archived 2012-06-27 at the Wayback Machine, Stanford University January 2004.
  7. ^ Hanley, Rachael. "From Googol to Google: Co-founder returns Archived 2006-12-14 at the Wayback Machine", The Stanford Daily February 12, 2003 (retrieved July 14, 2006).
  8. ^ Bylund, Anders. "To Google or Not to Google", The Motley Fool via MSNBC. July 5, 2006 (retrieved July 7, 2006).
  9. ^ "Edward Kasner". MacTutor.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edward_Kasner&oldid=1221598353"