Felix Earl Browder (; July 31, 1927 – December 10, 2016) was an American mathematician known for his work in
nonlinear functional analysis
Nonlinear functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis that deals with nonlinear mappings.
Topics
Its subject matter includes:
* generalizations of calculus to Banach spaces
* implicit function theorems
* fixed-point theorems ( ...
. He received the
National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...
in 1999 and was President 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, ...
until 2000. His two younger brothers also became notable mathematicians,
William Browder (an
algebraic topologist) and
Andrew Browder
Andrew Browder (January 8, 1931 – March 24, 2019) was an American mathematician at Brown University.
Early life and education
Andrew Browder was born in Moscow, Russia, where his father Earl Browder, an American communist from Kansas, United St ...
(a specialist in
function algebra In functional analysis, a Banach function algebra on a compact Hausdorff space ''X'' is unital subalgebra, ''A'', of the commutative C*-algebra ''C(X)'' of all continuous, complex-valued functions from ''X'', together with a norm on ''A'' that m ...
s).
Early life and education
Felix Earl Browder was born in 1927 in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, while his American father
Earl Browder, born in
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...
, was living and working there. He had gone to the Soviet Union in 1927. His mother was Raissa Berkmann, a Russian Jewish woman from St. Petersburg whom Browder met and married while living in the Soviet Union.
[ As a child, Felix Browder moved with his family to the United States, where his father Earl Browder for a time was head of the ]American Communist Party
The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
. The father ran for US president in 1936 and 1940. A 1999 book by Alexander Vassiliev
Alexander Vassiliev (russian: Александр Васильев; born 1962) is a Russian- British journalist, writer and espionage historian living in London who is a subject matter expert in the Soviet KGB and Russian SVR. A former officer ...
, published after the fall of the Soviet Union, said that Earl Browder was recruited in the 1940s as a spy for the Soviet Union.
Felix Browder was a child prodigy in mathematics; he entered MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
at age 16 in 1944 and graduated in 1946 with his first degree in mathematics. In 1946, at MIT he achieved the rank of a Putnam Fellow in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, often abbreviated to Putnam Competition, is an annual mathematics competition for undergraduate college students enrolled at institutions of higher learning in the United States and Canada (regar ...
. In 1948 (at age 20), he received his doctorate from Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
.
Career
Browder had an academic career, encountering difficulty in the 1950s in getting work during the McCarthy era
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The term origina ...
because of his father's communist activities.
Browder headed the University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
's mathematics department for 12 years. He also held posts at MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
, Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
, Brandeis and Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
. In 1986 he became the first vice president for research at Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
.
Browder received the 1999 National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...
. He also served as president 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, ...
from 1999 to 2000.
In his outgoing presidential address at the American Mathematical Society, Browder noted, "ideas and techniques from one set of mathematical sources imping ngfruitfully on the same thing from another set of mathematical sources" as illustration of bisociation (a term from Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler, (, ; ; hu, Kösztler Artúr; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was a Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler join ...
). He also recounted the moves against mathematics in France by Claude Allègre
Claude Allègre (; born 31 March 1937) is a French politician and scientist.
Scientific work
The main scientific area of Claude Allègre was geochemistry. Allègre co-authored an ''Introduction to geochemistry'' in 1974. Since the 1980s, he ...
as problematic.
Browder was known for his personal library, which contained some thirty-five thousand books. "The library has a number of different categories," he said. "There is mathematics, physics and science as well as philosophy, literature and history, with a certain number of volumes of contemporary political science and economics. It is a polymath library. I am interested in everything and my library reflects all my interests."
Family
Browder married Eva Tislowitz in 1949, born to Jewish parents. Their children included Dr. Thomas Browder, a physicist specializing in the experimental study of subatomic particles, and Bill Browder
William Felix Browder (born April 23, 1964) is an American-born British financier and political activist. He is the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Hermitage Fund, which at one time was the lar ...
, who became CEO of Hermitage Capital Management
Hermitage Capital Management is an investment fund and asset management company specializing in Russian markets founded by Bill Browder and Edmond Safra. Chief operating officer is Ivan Cherkasov. Hermitage Capital Management headquarters are in ...
and resides in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
The late Dr. Browder had two younger brothers who were also research mathematicians, William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
(an algebraic topologist) and Andrew Browder
Andrew Browder (January 8, 1931 – March 24, 2019) was an American mathematician at Brown University.
Early life and education
Andrew Browder was born in Moscow, Russia, where his father Earl Browder, an American communist from Kansas, United St ...
(a specialist in function algebra In functional analysis, a Banach function algebra on a compact Hausdorff space ''X'' is unital subalgebra, ''A'', of the commutative C*-algebra ''C(X)'' of all continuous, complex-valued functions from ''X'', together with a norm on ''A'' that m ...
s). Browder died in 2016 at home in Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...
, aged 89. "In addition to his brothers, survivors include the above mentioned two sons, Thomas Browder of Honolulu and Bill Browder of London; and five grandchildren."
See also
* Earl Browder, father
* , brother
* Andrew Browder
Andrew Browder (January 8, 1931 – March 24, 2019) was an American mathematician at Brown University.
Early life and education
Andrew Browder was born in Moscow, Russia, where his father Earl Browder, an American communist from Kansas, United St ...
, brother
* Bill Browder
William Felix Browder (born April 23, 1964) is an American-born British financier and political activist. He is the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Hermitage Fund, which at one time was the lar ...
, son
* Joshua Browder grandson
References
External links
Rutger's announcement
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Browder, Felix
1927 births
2016 deaths
20th-century American mathematicians
21st-century American mathematicians
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Princeton University alumni
Rutgers University faculty
National Medal of Science laureates
Presidents of the American Mathematical Society
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Functional analysts
Felix
Felix may refer to:
* Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name
Places
* Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen
* Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty
Putnam Fellows