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Eric W. Weisstein | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1969-03-18)March 18, 1969 (age 56) Bloomington, Indiana, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Cornell University (BA) California Institute of Technology (MS,PhD) |
| Known for | MathWorld,CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics,ScienceWorld |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Planetaryastronomy,physics,mathematics |
| Institutions | Wolfram Research |
| Doctoral advisor | Dewey Muhleman |
Eric Wolfgang Weisstein (born March 18, 1969) is an American scientist, mathematician, andencyclopedist who created and maintains the encyclopediasMathWorld andScienceWorld. In addition, he is the author of theCRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics. He works forWolfram Research.
Weisstein holds a Ph.D. inplanetaryastronomy, which he obtained from theCalifornia Institute of Technology's Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences in 1996 as well as an M.S. in planetary astronomy in 1993 also from Caltech. Weisstein graduated cum laude fromCornell University with a B.A. inphysics and a minor in astronomy in 1990. During his summers away from Cornell, Weisstein participated in research at theArecibo Observatory, a radio telescope facility inPuerto Rico operated by Cornell. As a graduate student, Weisstein also participated in research atGoddard Space Flight Center inGreenbelt, Maryland. During his time at Goddard, Weisstein participated in the development of hurricane visualization software. In 1996 Weisstein published his doctoral thesis titledMillimeter/Submillimeter Fourier Transform Spectroscopy of Jovian Planet Atmospheres, which was completed under faculty advisor Dewey Muhleman and in association with Eugene Serabyn, who later became a member of the CaltechJet Propulsion Laboratory.
Upon completion of his doctorate, Weisstein became aresearchscientist at Caltech in January 1996 and continued work in the field of submillimeterspectroscopy. He collaborated with Eugene Serabyn and published several papers. Six months later, he moved to theUniversity of Virginia's Department of Astronomy inCharlottesville where he remained for three years to continue his research.
In 1995, Weisstein converted aMicrosoft Word document of over 200 pages to hypertext format and uploaded it to his webspace at Caltech under the titleEric's Treasure Trove of Sciences. After Weisstein transferred to the University of Virginia to continue his work in astronomy, he continued to refine his fledgling encyclopedia. In November 1998, Weisstein made a deal with theCRC Press to publish his encyclopedia in book format as theCRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics. A year later, in 1999, Weisstein accepted the position of encyclopedist atWolfram Research, Inc. (WRI).MathWorld was ready to be unveiled in December 1999 with nearly 13,000 entries, most of them written by Weisstein, encompassing a variety of disciplines, includingalgebra,geometry,calculus,discrete mathematics,topology,number theory,statistics, and thefoundations.
MathWorld became involved in a legal dispute with the CRC Press in March 2000. The CRC Press claimedMathWorld violated the copyright on theCRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics. During the dispute, a court order shut downMathWorld for over a year starting October 23, 2000. According to Eric Weisstein's personal site, he restarted MathWorld on November 6, 2001.[1] This ultimately led to the creation ofPlanetMath.[2] Wolfram Research,Stephen Wolfram, and Eric Weisstein settled with the CRC Press for an undisclosed financial award and several benefits. Among these benefits are the inclusion of a copyright notice of the CRC Press at the bottom of all webpages inMathWorld and legal rights to reproduceMathWorld in a book format again.
ScienceWorld, also known asEric Weisstein's World of Science, was unveiled to the general public in January 2002.ScienceWorld includes more than 1,000 entries in many fields of science includingastronomy,chemistry,physics andbiographies of scientists.
In 2014, he became a member of theGlobal Digital Mathematics Library Working Group of theInternational Mathematical Union.[3]
