Biography:Hans Lewy
Hans Lewy | |
|---|---|
 Hans Lewy in 1975 (photo by George Bergman) | |
| Born | October 20, 1904 Breslau, Prussia |
| Died | August 23, 1988 (aged 83) Berkeley, California, United States of America |
| Nationality | United States of America |
| Alma mater | University of Göttingen |
| Known for | Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy condition, Lewy's example |
| Awards | Wolf Prize (1986)[1] |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematical analysis, partial differential equations, several complex variables |
| Doctoral advisor | Richard Courant[2] |
| Doctoral students | David Kinderlehrer |
Hans Lewy (20 October 1904 – 23 August 1988) was a Jewish American mathematician, known for his work on partial differential equations and on the theory of functions of several complex variables.[3]
Life
Lewy was born in Breslau, Silesia, on October 20, 1904. He began his studies at the University of Göttingen in 1922, after being advised to avoid the more local University of Breslau because it was too old-fashioned,[4]Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
He retired from Berkeley in 1972, and in 1973 became one of two Ordway Professors of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota. He died on August 23, 1988, in Berkeley.[5][6][7]
Lewy is known for his contributions to partial differential equations. In 1957, his famous example of a second-order linear partial differential equation was so stunning and unexpected that the whole field steered in a new direction, as well as shaping modern analysis in a significant way. Based on this example, Louis Nirenberg, Lars Hörmander and others have outlined some important changes to the theory and structure of the field. This was adopted by many analysts and mathematicians as a major development.
He also worked on several complex variables in relation to nonlinear hyperbolic equations and elliptic equations, well-posedness for initial value problems of wave fronts (now commonly called Sobolev spaces) in the early 1930s, solutions of the classical problems of Hermann Weyl and Hermann Minkowski for analytical data (the original problem was solved by Louis Nirenberg in 1949 as part of his PhD thesis), the extendibility of minimal surfaces on and analytical nature of its boundaries which is fully free or in part, free boundary problems of water wave fronts in hydrodynamics, and the proof of quadratic reciprocity theorem in number theory from 'hydrodynamical' perspective.
Awards and honors
Lewy was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1964, and was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[6] He became a foreign member of the Accademia dei Lincei in 1972.[5] He was awarded a Leroy P. Steele Prize in 1979,[5] and a Wolf Prize in Mathematics in 1986 for his work on partial differential equations.[1] In 1986, the University of Bonn gave him an honorary doctorate.[7]
Publications
- Lewy, Hans (1935). "A priori limitations for Monge-Ampère equations". Transactions of the American Mathematical Society 37: 417–434. doi:10.1090/s0002-9947-1935-1501794-9.
- Lewy, Hans; Green, John Willie (1939). Aspects of the Calculus of Variations. Berkeley: University of California Press. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89062910575; notes by J. W. Green from lectures by Hans Lewy, vi+96 pp.[8]
- Lewy, Hans (1946). "Water waves on sloping beaches". Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 52 (9): 737–775. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1946-08643-7.
A selection of his work, edited by David Kinderlehrer and including his most important works, was published as the two volume work (Kinderlehrer 2002a) and (Kinderlehrer 2002b)
- Kinderlehrer, David, ed. (2002a), Hans Lewy Selecta. Volume 1, Contemporary Mathematicians, Boston-Basel-Stuttgart: Birkhäuser Verlag, pp. lxvi+357, ISBN 0-8176-3523-8, https://books.google.com/books?id=VDutq5E6CbgC. With biographical essays by Helen Lewy and Constance Reid, and commentaries on Lewy's work by Erhard Heinz, Peter D. Lax, Jean Leray, Richard MacCamy, Louis Nirenberg and François Treves.
- Kinderlehrer, David, ed. (2002b), Hans Lewy Selecta. Volume 2, Contemporary Mathematicians, Boston-Basel-Stuttgart: Birkhäuser Verlag, pp. xviii, 446, ISBN 0-8176-3524-6, https://books.google.com/books?id=mX8hTcETCc4C.
The following works are included in his "Selecta" in their original language or translated form.
- Courant, R.; Friedrichs, K.; Lewy, H. (1928), "Über die partiellen Differenzengleichungen der mathematischen Physik" (in de), Mathematische Annalen 100 (1): 32–74, doi:10.1007/BF01448839, Bibcode: 1928MatAn.100...32C, http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?GDZPPN002272636. There are also two English translations of the 1928 German original paper: the first one is a translation from the German by Phyllis Fox, circulated as a research report: Courant, R.; Friedrichs, K.; Lewy, H. (September 1956), On the partial difference equations of mathematical physics, AEC Research and Development Report, NYO-7689, New York: AEC Computing and Applied Mathematics Centre – Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, pp. V + 76, https://archive.org/details/onpartialdiffere00cour. The second one is a typographical improvement of the first, published by IBM as: Courant, R.; Friedrichs, K.; Lewy, H. (March 1967), "On the partial difference equations of mathematical physics", IBM Journal of Research and Development 11 (2): 215–234, doi:10.1147/rd.112.0215, Bibcode: 1967IBMJ...11..215C, http://domino.research.ibm.com/tchjr/journalindex.nsf/a3807c5b4823c53f85256561006324be/769774a3c9f3685f85256bfa00683f8a!OpenDocument. A freely downloadable version of this one can be found here
- Lewy, Hans (1957), "An example of a smooth linear partial differential equation without solution", Annals of Mathematics 66 (1): 155–158, doi:10.2307/1970121.
- Lewy, Hans (1977), On the boundary behavior of holomorphic mappings (Lezione tenuta il 3 maggio 1976) (Lecture given on May 3, 1976), Contributi del Centro Linceo Interdisciplinare di Scienze Matematiche e Loro Applicazioni, 35, Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, pp. 8, http://www.lincei.it/pubblicazioni/catalogo/volume.php?rid=33201.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wolf Foundation (2003) (in he), THE 1984/5 WOLF FOUNDATION PRIZE IN MATHEMATICS, http://www.wolffund.org.il/index.php?dir=site&page=winners&name=&prize=&year=1984&field=3004, retrieved September 14, 2013.
- ↑ Hans Lewy at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ↑ ""Hans Lewy" prepared by S. Hildebrandt". Wolf Prize. 2. World Scientific. 2001. pp. 264–310. ISBN 9789812811769. https://books.google.com/books?id=GHFtMc9NTkYC&pg=PA264.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedmmp - ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedkin - ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Dr. Hans Lewy, 83, Mathematics Professor", The New York Times, September 2, 1988, https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/02/obituaries/dr-hans-lewy-83-mathematics-profesor.html
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Protter, M.; J. L., Kelley; Kato, T.; Lehmer, D. H. (1988), "Hans Lewy, Mathematics: Berkeley. 1904-1988 Professor Emeritus", in Krogh, David, 1988, University of California: In Memoriam, Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley, pp. 85–87, http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb967nb5k3&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00032&toc.depth=1&toc.id=.
- ↑ Reid, W. T. (1940). "Review: Aspects of the Calculus of Variations, notes by J. W. Green from lectures by Hans Lewy". Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 46 (7): 595–596. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1940-07238-6. http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.bams/1183502779.
External links
- The Bancroft Library (2009), Guide to the Hans Lewy Papers, Collection number BANC MSS 91/147 cz, http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8f59q33c/, retrieved July 9, 2011.
- Dynkin, Eugene B. (October 7, 1981), Hans Lewy Interview October 7, 1981, Eugene B. Dynkin Collection of Mathematics Interviews. An audio interview, available at eCommons@Cornell from the [Eugene B. Dynkin Collection of Mathematics Interviews Eugene B. Dynkin Collection of Mathematics Interviews ].
- "Lewy ‹léevi›, Hans" (in it), Enciclopedia Treccani, 2008, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/hans-lewy/, retrieved July 26, 2011. The biographical entry about Hans Lewy at the Enciclopedia Treccani.
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Hans Lewy", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Lewy.html.
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