Reuben Hersh

Reuben Hersh (1979)

Reuben Hersh (born December 9, 1927 in the Bronx - † January 3, 2020 ) was an American mathematician .

Hersh studied English literature at Harvard University (bachelor's degree in 1946). He then worked as a writer for Scientific American (1948–1952) and the rest of the 1950s in the New York area in machine shops before receiving his PhD in mathematics from New York University in 1962 with Peter David Lax . 1962 to 1964 he was at Stanford University . From 1964 he was at the University of New Mexico , where he was finally Professor Emeritus. As a mathematician, Hersh dealt with partial differential equations , linear operators and probability theory . He was best known for his popular science math books with Philip Davis , particularly The Mathematical Experience from 1981, which won the National Book Award in 1983 .

In 1975 he received the Chauvenet Prize for one of his Scientific American articles (on Hilbert's 10th Problem 1973) with Martin Davis . Another Scientific American article was published with Paul Cohen on Non Cantorian Set Theory (1967) and with Martin Davis on Nonstandard Analysis (1972). He also wrote regularly in the Mathematical Intelligencer .

Fonts

• with Philip Davis : The mathematical experience. Houghton Mifflin and Birkhäuser 1981, Birkhäuser 1995, Mariner Books 1999 (introduction by Gian-Carlo Rota ).
• with Philip Davis: Descartes' Dream - the world according to mathematics. Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich 1986, Houghton Mifflin 1987, Dover 2005.
• What is mathematics really? Oxford University Press 1997.
• (Ed.): 18 unconventional essays on the nature of mathematics. Springer 2006.
• with Vera John-Steiner: Loving and Hating mathematics. Princeton University Press 2009.

Web links

Commons : Reuben Hersh  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Reuben Hersh in the catalog of the German National Library
• Reuben Hersh's website