RETIREMENTS & RESIGNATIONS
Professors John Eagon, Gebhard Fuhrken, Laurence Harper, Johannes Nitsche,
Marian Pour-El and Edgar Reich retired during 1999-2000. A dinner in their
honor, attended by faculty and staff of the School of Mathematics and
many friends, was held on April 12, 2000 at the campus Radisson Hotel.
The Head of the School, Professor Naresh Jain, several colleagues and
friends paid tribute to the honorees for their accomplishments and contributions
to teaching, research and service to the University and the community.
The faculty and staff of the School wish them many more productive and
fruitful years. Short summaries highlighting their careers and accomplishments
are contained in the next paragraphs.
Professor Laurence Harper received his Ph.D. in Algebra from the
University of Chicago in 1959 and became a member of the Minnesota faculty
that same year as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate
Professor in 1984. His research was published in such prestigious journals
as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the Transactions
of the American Mathematical Society. In later years he concentrated his
efforts on teaching. He was a very conscientious teacher and was regarded
highly by his sutdents.
Professor Johannes Nitsche did his graduate work at the University
of Goettingen and received his Ph.D. from Leipzig University in 1951.
He held several visiting positions, including one at Stanford University
before he joined the Minnesota faculty in 1957 as an Associate Professor.
He was promoted to Full Professor in 1960. Johannes has made outstanding
contributions to the theory of minimal surfaces. He obtained an important
uniqueness theorem for such surfaces. The proof uses what is now known
as the Nitsche-Sasaki-Gauss-Bonnet inequality. Another of his notable
results is a simple proof, published in the Annals of Mathematics, of
a celebrated theorem of Bernstein. His monograph "Lectures on Minimal
Surfaces" is an indispensable reference for researchers in this area.
Professor Nitsche gave invited addresses at many conferences and symposia
all over the world, often as a principal speaker, and served on the editorial
borards of many leading journals. The prestigious awards he has won include
the Humboldt Prize from the Alexander Humboldt Foundation and the Lester
Ford Award from the Mathematical Association of America for outstanding
expository writing. He was also the recipient of the George C. Taylor
Service Award of the Institute of Technology Alumni Association for distinguished
service.
Professor Nitsche played a major role in the department. He served as
Head of the School from 1971 through 1978. He spent a lot of time reorganizing
the office of the Head. The flawless filing system that he introduced
has been working very efficiently. The following mathematicians were hired
during his tenure as Head: Karel Prikry and Joel Roberts (1972), Robert
Gulliver, Max Jodeit and Dennis White (1973), Morton Harris in 1974, Luis
Caffarelli and David Frank in 1975, Lawrence Gray and Steven Sperber in
1977 and Dennis Hejhal in 1978.
Students found Johannes' teaching very inspiring and he always put his
best effort into it. He will always be regarded as one of the finest teachers
of the School.
Professor Marian Pour-El received her Ph.D. in Mathematical Logic
from Harvard University in 1958. She was on the faculty of Penn State
University from 1958 to 1964. There she was promoted to Associate Professor
in 1962 and spent the years 1962-1964 at the Institute for Advanced Studies
at Princeton. She joined the School in 1964 as an Associate Professor
and was promoted to Full Professor in 1968. Her interests in research
expanded into computability and functional analysis, and applications
to physical theory.
Marian has been a leader in her field. She was invited to address many
international symposia and conferences in Logic. She gave one-hour addresses
at the American Mathematical Society meeting and meetings of Mathematical
Association of America. A symposium was held in her honor in Kyoto, Japan,
in April 1993.
Her service on American Math Society Committees, University Senate and
its Committees and departmental committees has a very long record. In
spite of all these time consuming commitments, which involved a considerable
amount of travel, Marian played a unique and admirable role in mentoring
female graduate students. Her impact on the School and the matheamtical
community will always be remembered.
Professor Edgar Reich received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1954. After
visiting the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, he joined the
department in the Institute of Technology in 1956. He became an associate
Professor in 1958 and was promoted to Full Professor in 1961. Professor
Reich's earlier research interests were in the area of numerical analysis
and probability theory, but he has been a leading figure in complex analysis
for a long time.
Edgar received many honors and awards. He gave a one-hour address at
a meeting of the American Mathematical Society. He was the recipient of
a Guggenheim Fellowship and was elected to the Finnish Academy of Sciences
in 1980. He addressed many international symposia and conferences in complex
analysis and has been a regular visitor to the Eidgenossische Technische
Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich.
Edgar was Head of the School from 1969 to 1971. During his headship Professors
Jay Goldman, Richard McGehee and David Sattinger were hired in the School.
Professor Reich has been known as an excellent lecturer. His contributions
to research and teaching will be a model for many.
Please consult last year's newsletter for a description of the contributions
of Professors Eagon and Fuhrken.
Professor Yasuka Sibuya
has decided to retire at the end of this academic year after 38 years
of service to the School of Mathematics. A dinner will be given in his
honor on Thursday, April 10, 2001. Those interested in attending this
important event may contact Monika Stumpf at (612) 625-5591, dept@math.umn.edu,
for further details.
Professors Bennett Chow and Paul Edelman have resigned their positions
effective September 2000. Professor Chow, whose area is differential geometry,
joined the Mathematics Department of the University of California in San
Diego. Professor Edelman's area is combinatorics and he joined the Mathematics
Department of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. We wish them both continued
success.
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