Henry Otto Pollak

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Henry Otto Pollak (born December 13, 1927 in Vienna ) is an American mathematician.

Life

Pollak emigrated from Austria to the USA in 1934. He studied at Yale University (Bachelor in 1947) and at Harvard University with a master's degree in 1948 and a doctorate with Lars Ahlfors in 1951 (Some estimates for extremal distances). He then worked as a research mathematician at Bell Telephone Laboratories until 1983 . In the early 1960s he became director of the Research Center for Mathematics and Statistics there (he was succeeded by Ronald Graham ). From 1983 to 1986 he was Assistant Vice President of Bell Communications Research.

From 1987 he was visiting professor at Columbia University in teacher training (Teachers College). He had been with the School Mathematics Study Group (SMSG) since 1958 and was chairman of its advisory body from 1963/64.

He dealt with function theory, discrete mathematics (information theory, Steiner problem in different topologies, problem of shortest networks, problem of limited bandwidths in signal transmission), statistics and probability theory and mathematics education. When asked about the difference between the work of a mathematician at university and in industry, he said in an interview in 1984 that it is not so much a matter of teaching, but that in industry you normally have students who want to learn. He holds a patent on Interconnected Loop Digital Transmission Systems .

Pollak has multiple honorary doctorates (including Laval University, Bowdoin College and TU Eindhoven). In 1975/76 he was President of the Mathematical Association of America . In 1990 he received the Certificate for Meritorious Service from the MAA and in 1993 the Gung and Hu Distinguished Service to Mathematics Award from the MAA. In 1973 he was Hedrick Lecturer at the MAA. 1962 to 1965 and 1977/78 he was on the council of the American Mathematical Society. In 1971 he became a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science .

In 1949 he married Ida Tobias, with whom he has a son and a daughter.

Fonts

  • Solving problems in the real world, in Lynn Arthur Steen (ed.) Why numbers count , College Entrance Examination Board, New York 1997

literature

  • Albers, Alexanderson Mathematical People , Birkhäuser 1985

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Life data according to American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004
  2. ↑ In the same year he took part in the Putnam competition and won second place with the Yale team, together with Murray Gerstenhaber and Murray Gell-Mann
  3. ^ Mathematics Genealogy Project
  4. ↑ Pollak in Albers, Alexanderson Mathematical People , The big difference between industry and university is not whether or not you teach. The difference is that in industry you typically have more students who want to learn
personal data
SURNAME Pollak, Henry Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna