Oscar Lanford
Oscar Erasmus Lanford III , often quoted as Oscar E. Lanford III, (born January 6, 1940 in New York City , † November 16, 2013 ) was an American mathematician and mathematical physicist.
Lanford studied at Wesleyan University and received his PhD from Princeton University in 1966 with Arthur Wightman ( Construction of Quantum Fields Interacting by a Cut-Off Yukawa Coupling ). After that he was from 1966 first as an assistant professor, later as a professor at the University of California, Berkeley . In 1970 he was at the Institute for Advanced Study . From 1982 he was a physics professor at IHES near Paris . From 1987 he was a professor at the ETH Zurich and from 1995 to 1998 he was also head of the mathematics department. Since 2005 he has been Professor Emeritus at the ETH.
Lanford worked in mathematical physics, first in constructive quantum field theory , then in statistical physics and the theory of dynamic systems. In particular, he used renormalization group methods in the computer-aided analysis of dynamic systems, as in the proof of the Feigenbaum conjectures in the Feigenbaum scenario .
In 1976 he proved the validity of the Boltzmann equation for a classic gas scattering sphere, but his proof is only valid for a very short time.
He was an honorary doctor of Wesleyan University and received the 1986 National Academy of Sciences Prize for Applied Mathematics and Numerical Analysis. He was invited speaker at the ICM 1986 ( Computer assisted proofs in analysis ) and 1974 in Vancouver ( Time evolution of infinite classical systems ). From 1969 to 1971 he was a Sloan Research Fellow . He was a fellow of the American Mathematical Society .
Web links
- Oscar Lanford in the Mathematics Genealogy Project (English)
- Oscar E. Lanford III (Jan 6, 1940 – Nov 16, 2013) In Memoriam . In: Journal of Statistical Physics . tape 155 , no. 3 , May 2014, p. 419-420 , doi : 10.1007 / s10955-014-0931-0 .
- F. Alberto Grünbaum: In Memoriam Oscar E. Lanford III. Academic Senate, University of California, Berkeley, 2018, accessed October 19, 2018 .
- Oliver Knill: Oscar Lanford (1940-2013). November 25, 2013 (English).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Oscar Lanford III, Physicist. ihes.fr, accessed October 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Chairs. Department of Mathematics, ETH, accessed October 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Lanford A computer assisted proof of the Feigenbaum Conjectures , Bulletin AMS, Vol. 6, 1982, p. 427, online here
- ↑ Lanford On a derivation of the Boltzmann equation , Asterisque, Volume 40, 1976, pp. 117-137
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lanford, Oscar |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lanford, Oscar E .; Lanford, Oscar Erasmus III. (Full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American mathematician and physicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 6, 1940 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 16, 2013 |