Bjarni Jónsson (February 15, 1920 – September 30, 2016) was an Icelandic
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
and
logician working in
universal algebra
Universal algebra (sometimes called general algebra) is the field of mathematics that studies algebraic structures in general, not specific types of algebraic structures.
For instance, rather than considering groups or rings as the object of stud ...
,
lattice theory
A lattice is an abstract structure studied in the mathematical subdisciplines of order theory and abstract algebra. It consists of a partially ordered set in which every pair of elements has a unique supremum (also called a least upper bou ...
,
model theory
In mathematical logic, model theory is the study of the relationship between theory (mathematical logic), formal theories (a collection of Sentence (mathematical logic), sentences in a formal language expressing statements about a Structure (mat ...
and
set theory
Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory – as a branch of mathema ...
. He was
emeritus
''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus".
In some c ...
distinguished professor of
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
at
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...
and the honorary editor in chief of ''
Algebra Universalis''. He received his PhD in 1946 at
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
under supervision of
Alfred Tarski
Alfred Tarski (; ; born Alfred Teitelbaum;School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews ''School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews''. January 14, 1901 – October 26, 1983) was a Polish-American logician ...
.
In 2012, he became a fellow of the
American Mathematical Society
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...
.
List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
retrieved 2013-01-26.
Work
Jónsson's lemma as well as several mathematical objects are named after him, among them Jónsson algebras, ω- Jónsson functions, Jónsson cardinals, Jónsson terms, Jónsson–Tarski algebras and Jónsson–Tarski duality.
Publications
*
References
Further reading
* Kirby A. Baker, ''Bjarni Jónsson's contributions in algebra'', Algebra Universalis, September 1994, Volume 31, Issue 3, pp. 306–336.
* J. B. Nation, ''Jónsson's contributions to lattice theory'', Algebra Universalis, September 1994, Volume 31, Issue 3, pp. 430–445.
External links
Bjarni Jónsson's homepage
1920 births
Bjarni Jonsson
Algebraists
Lattice theorists
20th-century mathematicians
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Vanderbilt University faculty
Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
Bjarni Jonsson
2016 deaths
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Brown University faculty
Icelandic expatriates in the United States