Isadore Singer | |
|---|---|
_(cleaned)_(cropped).jpg) Singer in Berkeley, 1977 | |
| Born | May 3, 1924 |
| Died | February 11, 2021(2021-02-11) (aged 96) |
| Education | |
| Known for | |
| Spouse | |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Lie Algebras of Unbounded Operators (1950) |
| Doctoral advisor | Irving Segal |
| Doctoral students | |
Isadore Manuel Singer (May 3, 1924 – February 11, 2021) was an American mathematician. He was an EmeritusInstitute Professor in theDepartment of Mathematics at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology and a Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.[1][2][3]
Singer is noted for his work withMichael Atiyah, proving theAtiyah–Singer index theorem in 1962, which paved the way for new interactions betweenpure mathematics andtheoretical physics.[4] In early 1980s, while a professor at Berkeley, Singer co-founded theMathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) withShiing-Shen Chern andCalvin Moore.[5][6]
Singer was born on May 3, 1924, inDetroit,Michigan, to Polish Jewish immigrants. His father Simon was employed as a printer and only spokeYiddish, and his mother, Freda (Rosemaity), worked as a seamstress. Singer learned English swiftly and subsequently taught it to the rest of his family.[7][8]
Singer studiedphysics at theUniversity of Michigan, graduating in 1944 after just two-and-a-half years so that he could join the military.[7][9] He was stationed in theUS Army in thePhilippines, where he was a radar officer. During the daytime, he operated a communications school for thePhilippine Army. He undertookcorrespondence courses in mathematics at night in order to satisfy the prerequisites for relativity and quantum mechanics.[7] Upon his return from military service, Singer studied mathematics for one year at theUniversity of Chicago.[7] Although he initially intended to go back to physics, his interest in math was piqued, and he continued with the subject,[7] earning an M.S. in Mathematics in 1948 and a Ph.D. in Mathematics in 1950 under the supervision ofIrving Segal.[2][3][1]
Singer held a postdoctoral fellowship as a CLE Moore instructor at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology in 1950.[1] After appointments at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles,Columbia University, andPrinceton University, he returned to MIT as a professor in 1956 and was appointed as the Norbert Wiener Professor from 1970 to 1979.[1] In 1979, he moved to theUniversity of California, Berkeley as Miller Professor.[1] He returned to MIT in 1983 as the first John D. MacArthur Professor, before being appointed as an Institute Professor in 1987.[1]
Singer was chair of the Committee of Science & Public Policy of theUnited States National Academy of Sciences, a member of the White House Science Council (1982–88), and on the Governing Board of theUnited States National Research Council (1995–99).[1] He was one of the founders of the independent non-profitMathematical Sciences Research Institute, based inBerkeley, California.[7]
Singer died on February 11, 2021, at his home inBoxborough, Massachusetts. He was 96.[7]
Partnering with British-Lebanese mathematicianMichael Atiyah, Singer created a linkage between the fields of analysis, especiallydifferential equations, and topology. In particular, they resolved a conjecture ofIsrael Gelfand's on how topological constructs could count the number of solutions of differential equations. TheAtiyah–Singer index theorem, as it is now known, opened a new field of mathematics calledindex theory.[7] The development of their work made use of theDirac operator, the general geometric construction of which was a notable new discovery. It is sometimes called the Atiyah–Singer operator in their honor.[10] In discussions between mathematicianJim Simons and physicistYang Chen-Ning in the 1970s, it was found that the Atiyah–Singer theorem has a number of applications to physics.[4][7]
WithRichard V. Kadison, he proposed theKadison–Singer problem in 1959,[11] Inspired by quantum mechanics, it turned out to have reformulations in engineering and computer science. It was finally proved in 2013.[7]
Singer also developedanalytic torsion with D.B. Ray and withHenry McKean introduced heat equation formulae to the Atiyah–Singer index theorem.[7] Singer's other notable contributions in mathematics include theAmbrose–Singer holonomy theorem and theMcKean–Singer theorem.[12]
Singer was a member of theNational Academy of Sciences,[13] theAmerican Philosophical Society,[14] and theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.[15] He was a member of theNorwegian Academy of Science and Letters.[16] In 2012 he became a fellow of theAmerican Mathematical Society.[17]
Among the awards he has received are theBôcher Memorial Prize (1969) from theAmerican Mathematical Society, theNational Medal of Science (1983), theEugene Wigner Medal (1988), theSteele Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2000) from the American Mathematical Society, theAbel Prize (2004) shared withMichael Atiyah,[18] the 2004Gauss Lecture and theJames Rhyne Killian Faculty Achievement Award from MIT (2005).[19]
Singer's first marriage was to Sheila Ruff, a play therapist for disabled children; they later divorced. His second marriage was to Rosemarie Singer, and they remained married until his death. He had five children: Stephen (born visually impaired), Eliot, and Natasha (with Sheila); Emily, and Annabelle (with Rosemarie).[7] Singer's brother Sidney was a particle physicist withLos Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and predeceased him in 2016.[7]
