Francis Joseph Murray | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | March 15, 1996 | (aged 85)
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Columbia University |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mathematics |
Institutions | Columbia University Duke University |
Doctoral advisor | Bernard Koopman |
Doctoral students | Robert Schatten Ernst G. Straus |
Francis Joseph Murray (February 3, 1911 – March 15, 1996) was a mathematician, known for his foundational work (with John von Neumann) on functional analysis, and what subsequently became known as von Neumann algebras. He received his BA from Columbia College in 1932 and PhD from Columbia University in 1936.[1][2] He taught at Duke University.
In 1967 he was awarded the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal by the U. S. Army.
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The Common Character Trait of Geniuses | James Gleick
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Transcription
I'm tempted to say smart, creative people have no particularly different set of character traits than the rest of us except for being smart and creative, and those being character traits. Then, on the other hand, I wrote a biography of Richard Feynman and a biography of Isaac Newton. Now, there are two great scientific geniuses whose characters were in some superficial ways completely different. Isaac Newton was solitary, antisocial, I think unpleasant, bitter, fought with his friends as much as with his enemies. Richard Feynman was gregarious, funny, a great dancer, loved women. Isaac Newton, I believe, never had sex. Richard Feynman, I believe, had plenty. So you can't generalize there. On the other hand, they were both, as I tried to get in their heads, understand their minds, the nature of their genius, I sort of felt I was seeing things that they had in common, and they were things that had to do with aloneness. Newton was much more obviously alone than Feynman, but Feynman didn't particularly work well with others. He was known as a great teacher, but he wasn't a great teacher, I don't think, one on one. I think he was a great lecturer. I think he was a great communicator. But when it came time to make the great discoveries of science, he was alone in his head. Now, when I say he, I mean both Feynman and Newton, and this applies, also, I think, to the geniuses that I write about in The Information, Charles Babbage, Alan Turing, Ada Byron. They all had the ability to concentrate with a sort of intensity that is hard for mortals like me to grasp, a kind of passion for abstraction that doesn't lend itself to easy communication, I don't think.
Selected publications
- 1936 (with J. von Neumann), "On rings of operators," Ann. of Math. 2(37): 116–229. The original paper on von Neumann algebras.
- 1937 (with J. von Neumann), "On rings of operators II," Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 41: 208–248.
- 1943 (with J. von Neumann), "On rings of operators IV," Ann. of Math. 2(44): 716–808.
- 1941. An Introduction to Linear Transformations in Hilbert Space. Annals of Mathematics Studies, no. 4. Princeton Univ. Press.[3]
- 1947. The theory of mathematical machines. Columbia Univ. Press.[4]
- 1954. (with Kenneth S. Miller). Existence Theorems for Ordinary Differential Equations.[5] ISBN 0-88275-320-7; 2nd printing Krieger 1976; reprint Dover 2013.
- 1978. Applied Mathematics: An Intellectual Orientation. ISBN 0-306-39252-6[6]
References
- ^ Columbia College (Columbia University). Office of Alumni Affairs and Development; Columbia College (Columbia University) (1956). Columbia College today. Columbia University Libraries. New York, N.Y. : Columbia College, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development.
- ^ Columbia College (Columbia University). Office of Alumni Affairs and Development; Columbia College (Columbia University) (1962–63). Columbia College today. Columbia University Libraries. New York, N.Y. : Columbia College, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development.
- ^ Halmos, P. R. (1942). "Review: An introduction to linear transformations in Hilbert space, by F. J. Murray" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 48 (3): 204–205. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1942-07644-0.
- ^ Goldstine, H. H. (1947). "Review: The theory of mathematical machines, by F. J. Murray" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 53 (9): 893–895. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1947-08889-3.
- ^ Reid, W. T. (1955). "Review: Existence theorems for ordinary differential equations, by F. J. Murray and K. S. Miller" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 61 (4): 353–355. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1955-09942-7.
- ^ Hafner, Everett (1980). "Review: Applied mathematics: An intellectual orientation, by F. J. Murray" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.). 3 (1, Part 1): 735–739. doi:10.1090/s0273-0979-1980-14808-9.
- A brief obituary.
- Francis Joseph Murray at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Retirement of Francis Joseph Murray. Duke Math. J. 47 (1980), no. 4, 983–985.