Biography:Joseph R. Shoenfield

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Joseph Robert Shoenfield
Born
Detroit, Michigan, US
DiedNovember 15, 2000(2000-11-15) (aged 73)
Durham, North Carolina, US
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
Known forShoenfield absoluteness theorem
AwardsGödel Lecture (1992)
Scientific career
FieldsMathematical logic
InstitutionsDuke University
ThesisModels of Formal Systems (1953)
Doctoral advisorRaymond Louis Wilder[1]

Joseph Robert Shoenfield (1927, Detroit – November 15, 2000, Durham, North Carolina) was an American mathematical logician.

Education

Shoenfield obtained his PhD in 1953 with Raymond Louis Wilder at the University of Michigan (Models of formal systems).

Career

From 1952, he lectured at Duke University, where he remained until becoming emeritus in 1992. From 1970 to 1973 he was president of the mathematics faculty. In 1956/57 he was at the Institute for Advanced Study. Shoenfield worked on recursion theory, model theory and axiomatic set theory. His textbook on mathematical logic has become a classic.[2]

Honors

From 1972 to 1976 he was president of the Association for Symbolic Logic. He delivered the Gödel Lecture at the 1992 meeting of the ASL.[3]

Hobbies

Already in his student days, Schoenfield was a passionate and strong contract bridge player. He was an early member[4] of the American Go Association; the memorial tournament in North Carolina was founded in his memory.[5]

Selected publications

  • Mathematical Logic, Addison Wesley 1967, 2nd edition, Association for Symbolic Logic, 2001[6]
  • Degrees of unsolvability, North Holland Mathematical Studies 1971
  • Recursion theory, Springer 1993[7]

Notes

References