Biography:I. Martin Isaacs

From HandWiki
I. Martin Isaacs
Born(1940-04-14)April 14, 1940
DiedFebruary 17, 2025(2025-02-17) (aged 84)
Scientific career
FieldsGroup theory, mathematics
Institutions
  • University of Chicago
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison

Irving Martin Isaacs (April 14, 1940 – February 17, 2025) was an American group theorist and representation theorist. He was a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Biography

Isaacs was born in the Bronx, in New York City, on April 14, 1940.[1][2] He received a BS from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1960.[2] While a student there, he was named a Putnam Fellow for his performance in the 1959 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition.[3]

Isaacs went on to Harvard University for graduate study. He received a master's degree in 1961,[2] and completed his PhD in 1964. His thesis was advised by Richard Brauer,[4] and was titled Finite p-solvable linear groups.[5] After a few years at the University of Chicago as an instructor and visiting assistant professor, Isaacs moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1969.[2] He was hired as an associate professor, and promoted to full professor in 1971.[2] According to the Mathematics Genealogy Project, he supervised 29 doctoral students over his career.[4]

In 2011, Isaacs retired and became a professor emeritus.[6][7][8] In retirement, he lived in Berkeley, California and was an occasional participant on MathOverflow.[8] Near the end of his life, he endowed a prize for "Excellence in Mathematical Writing," first awarded in 2025.[1][9]

Work

Isaacs is known as the author of graduate-level textbooks on character theory and group theory.[6] His book Character Theory of Finite Groups has been described as a classic in the field.[10]

Isaacs is also known for formulating the Isaacs–Navarro conjecture along with Gabriel Navarro, a widely cited generalization of the McKay conjecture.[11][12]

Personal life

Isaacs was seriously injured in an automobile accident in France in 1964, shortly after receiving his PhD. The accident left him scarred and disabled.[1][6]

He died of kidney failure on February 17, 2025.[1][6]

Awards and honors

In 2009, a conference was held at the Universitat de Valencia in Spain to honor his contributions.[13] Following the conference, a festschrift was published by the American Mathematical Society.[14]

Isaacs was the recipient of a Sloan Foundation research award in 1971.[6] He was inaugurated as a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2013.[15]

Isaacs was a Pólya lecturer for the Mathematical Association of America between 2003 and 2005.[6]

Books

  • Isaacs, I. Martin (1976). Character Theory of Finite Groups. Academic Press. ISBN 0123745500.  (reprinted by Dover Publications in 1994, reprinted by the American Mathematical Society in 2006 ISBN 0821842293)[16][10]
  • Isaacs, I. Martin (1994). Algebra: A Graduate Course. Brooks Cole. ISBN 0534190022.  (reprinted by the American Mathematical Society in 2009 ISBN 0821847996)[17]
  • Isaacs, I. Martin (2001). Geometry for College Students. Pure and Applied Mathematics 8. Brooks Cole. ISBN 0534351794.  (reprinted by the American Mathematical Society in 2009 ISBN 0821847945)[18]
  • Isaacs, I. Martin (2008). Finite Group Theory. American Mathematical Society. ISBN 0821843443.  2011 reprint with corrections[19]
  • Isaacs, I. Martin (2018). Characters of Solvable Groups. American Mathematical Society. ISBN 9781470434854. [20]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Passman, Don (2025). "Memorial Resolution for Marty Isaacs". University of Wisconsin–Madison. https://math.wisc.edu/memorial-resolution-for-marty-isaacs/. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Kalte, Pamela M.; Nemeh, Katherine H.; Schusterbauer, Noah, eds (2005). American Men & Women of Science. 3 (G-I) (22nd ed.). Thomson Gale. 
  3. ↑ "I. Martin Isaacs (1940–2025)". Notices of the American Mathematical Society 72 (11): 1266–1271. December 2025. doi:10.1090/noti3275. https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/202511/rnoti-p1266.pdf. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "I. Martin (Irving) Isaacs". Mathematics Genealogy Project. http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=9224. Retrieved April 11, 2016. 
  5. ↑ Isaacs, Irving Martin (1964). Finite p-solvable linear groups (PhD thesis). Harvard University.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 "I. Martin Isaacs (1940–2025)". Notices of the American Mathematical Society 72 (11). 2025. doi:10.1090/noti3275. 
  7. ↑ "Emeritus Professor Proposals". http://www.math.wisc.edu/~passman/emeritus.html. Retrieved May 25, 2014. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "User Marty Isaacs". MathOverflow. https://mathoverflow.net/users/9694/marty-isaacs. Retrieved May 25, 2014. 
  9. ↑ "Green to Receive Inaugural I. Martin Isaacs Prize". American Mathematical Society. November 26, 2024. https://www.ams.org/news?news_id=7396. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Hunacek, Mark (November 29, 2012). "Review of Character Theory of Finite Groups by I. Martin Isaacs". Mathematical Association of America. https://old.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/geometry-for-college-students. 
  11. ↑ Isaacs, I. Martin; Navarro, Gabriel (2002). "New refinements of the McKay conjecture for finite groups". Annals of Mathematics 156: 333–344. doi:10.2307/3597192. 
  12. ↑ "Isaacs-Navarro conjecture". Groupprops, The Group Properties Wiki. http://groupprops.subwiki.org/wiki/Isaacs-Navarro_conjecture. Retrieved May 25, 2014. 
  13. ↑ "Isaacs Conference: Conference on Character Theory of Finite Groups". June 3–5, 2009. http://www.uv.es/isaacs09/. Retrieved May 25, 2014. 
  14. ↑ Lewis, Mark L.; Navarro, Gabriel; Passman, Donald S. et al., eds (2010). Character Theory of Finite Groups: Conference in Honor of I. Martin Isaacs. Contemporary Mathematics. 524. American Mathematical Society. https://www.google.si/books/edition/Character_Theory_of_Finite_Groups/KlDUAwAAQBAJ. Retrieved February 24, 2025. 
  15. ↑ "List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society". American Mathematical Society. http://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list. Retrieved May 25, 2014. 
  16. ↑ Curtis, Charles W. (1977). "Character theory of finite groups (book review)". Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 83 (5): 1005–1007. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1977-14355-3. http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.bams/1183539464. 
  17. ↑ Berg, Michael (April 24, 2009). "Review of Algebra: A Graduate Course by I. Martin Isaacs". Mathematical Association of America. https://old.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/algebra-a-graduate-course. 
  18. ↑ Hunacek, Mark (October 20, 2011). "Review of Geometry for College Students by I. Martin Isaacs". Mathematical Association of America. https://old.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/geometry-for-college-students. 
  19. ↑ Locascio, Andrew (April 20, 2009). "Review of Finite Group Theory by I. Martin Isaacs". Mathematical Association of America. https://old.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/finite-group-theory. 
  20. ↑ Zaldivar, Felipe (July 24, 2018). "Review of Characters of Solvable Groups by I. Martin Isaacs". Mathematical Association of America. https://old.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/characters-of-solvable-groups. 



Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Biography:I._Martin_Isaacs&oldid=4222878"