Hartley Rogers Jr. (July 6, 1926 – July 17, 2015) was an American mathematician who worked in

computability theory Computability theory, also known as recursion theory, is a branch of mathematical logic, computer science, and the theory of computation that originated in the 1930s with the study of computable functions and Turing degrees. The field has since ex ...

, and was a professor in the Mathematics Department of the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Biography

Born in 1926 in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, Rogers studied English as an undergraduate at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, graduating in 1946. After visiting the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

under a Henry Fellowship, he returned to Yale for a master's degree in physics, which he completed in 1950. He studied mathematics under

Alonzo Church Alonzo Church (June 14, 1903 – August 11, 1995) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, logician, and philosopher who made major contributions to mathematical logic and the foundations of theoretical computer science. He is bes ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

, earned a second master's degree in 1951, and received his Ph.D. there in 1952. He was a Benjamin Peirce Lecturer at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

from 1952 to 1955. After holding a visiting position at MIT, he became a professor in the

MIT Mathematics Department The Department of Mathematics is a department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science, MIT School of Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The current faculty of around 50 members includes Wolf Prize winner ...

in 1956. His doctoral students included Patrick Fischer, Louis Hodes,

Carl Jockusch Carl Groos Jockusch Jr. (born July 13, 1941, in San Antonio, Texas) is an American mathematician. He graduated from Alamo Heights High School in 1959, attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and transferred to Swarthmore College i ...

, Andrew Kahr, David Luckham, Rohit Parikh, David Park, and

John Stillwell John Colin Stillwell (born 1942) is an Australian mathematician on the faculties of the University of San Francisco and Monash University. Biography He was born in Melbourne, Australia and lived there until he went to the Massachusetts Instit ...

. He chaired the MIT faculty senate from 1971 to 1973 and served as associate provost of the university from 1974 to 1980. Beyond teaching and research, Rogers was an avid rower and rowing competitor. He retired as a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, 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 2009, and died on July 17, 2015.

Mathematical work

Rogers worked in

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of Logic#Formal logic, formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory (also known as computability theory). Research in mathematical logic com ...

, particularly

recursion theory Computability theory, also known as recursion theory, is a branch of mathematical logic, computer science, and the theory of computation that originated in the 1930s with the study of computable functions and Turing degrees. The field has since ex ...

, and wrote the classic text ''Theory of Recursive Functions and Effective Computability''. The Rogers equivalence theorem is named after him. Rogers won the

Lester R. Ford Award ''The American Mathematical Monthly'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of mathematics. It was established by Benjamin Finkel in 1894 and is published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the Mathematical Association of America. It is an expositor ...

in 1965 for his expository article ''Information Theory''.

Selected works

* * * * Hartley Rogers Jr., ''The Theory of Recursive Functions and Effective Computability'', MIT Press, (paperback), (textbook)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Hartley Jr. 1926 births 2015 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American logicians Princeton University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty People from Winchester, Massachusetts