Hartley Rogers Jr. (July 6, 1926 – July 17, 2015) was a 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 e ...
, and was a professor in the
Mathematics Department of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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 ...
.
Biography
Born in 1926 in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
, he studied under
Alonzo Church
Alonzo Church (June 14, 1903 – August 11, 1995) was an American mathematician, computer scientist, logician, philosopher, professor and editor who made major contributions to mathematical logic and the foundations of theoretical computer scienc ...
at
Princeton
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 ni ...
, and received his Ph.D. there in 1952. He served on the MIT faculty from 1956 until his death, July 17, 2015. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Adrianne E. Rogers, by his three children, Hartley R. Rogers, Campbell D.K. Rogers, and Caroline R. Broderick, and by his 10 grandchildren.
At MIT he had been involved in many scholarly extracurricular activities, including running SPUR (Summer Program in Undergraduate Research) for MIT undergraduates, overseeing the mathematics section of RSI (
Research Science Institute
The Research Science Institute (RSI) is an international summer research program for high school students. RSI is sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) and hosted by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. RSI brings together the top S ...
) for advanced high school students, and coaching the MIT
Putnam exam
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 ...
team for nearly two decades starting in 1990, including the years 2003 and 2004 when MIT won for the first time since 1979. He also ran a seminar called 18.S34: Mathematical Problem Solving for MIT freshmen.
Rogers is known within the MIT undergraduate community also for having developed a multivariable calculus course (18.022: Multivariable Calculus with Theory) with the explicit goal of providing a firm mathematical foundation for the study of physics. In 2005 he announced that he would no longer be teaching the course himself, but it is likely that it will continue to be taught in a similar manner in the future. He is remembered for his witty mathematical comments during lectures as well as his tradition of awarding
Leibniz Cookies and
Fig Newton
Newtons are a Nabisco-trademarked version of a pastry filled with sweet fruit paste. "Fig Newtons" are the most popular variety ( fig rolls filled with fig paste). They are produced by an extrusion process. Their distinctive shape is a character ...
s to top performers in his class.
An avid oarsman, he was most recently a member of the
Cambridge Boat Club on the Charles River, Cambridge, Massachusetts. In his spare time, he served for many years as the Chaplain for the World Indoor Rowing Championships as part of the C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints Board of Directors.
Mathematical work
Rogers worked in
mathematical logic
Mathematical logic is the study of logic, formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of for ...
, 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 e ...
, and wrote the classic text ''Theory of Recursive Functions and Effective Computability''. The
Rogers equivalence theorem is named after him.
His doctoral students included
Patrick Fischer,
Louis Hodes
Louis Hodes (June 19, 1934 – June 30, 2008) was an American mathematician, computer scientist, and cancer researcher.
Early life and computer science work
Louis Hodes got his Bachelor of Science (B.S.) from the Polytechnic Institute of Br ...
,
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, ...
,
Andrew Kahr Andrew Seth Kahr is an American mathematician and financial consultant. He was the founder and CEO of First Deposit Corp., which was later acquired by Providian.
Kahr grew up in New York City, where he attended the Fieldston School of the Ethical ...
,
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 ...
.
Rogers won the
Lester R. Ford Award
Lester is an ancient Anglo-Saxon surname and given name. Notable people and characters with the name include:
People
Given name
* Lester Bangs (1948–1982), American music critic
* Lester W. Bentley (1908–1972), American artist from Wisc ...
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
External links
*
{{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
Logicians
People from Winchester, Massachusetts