Henry Otto Pollak (born December 13, 1927) is an Austrian-

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

mathematician. He is known for his contributions to

information theory Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification (science), quantification, computer data storage, storage, and telecommunication, communication of information. The field was originally established by the works of Harry Nyquist a ...

, and with

Ronald Graham Ronald Lewis Graham (October 31, 1935July 6, 2020) was an American mathematician credited by the American Mathematical Society as "one of the principal architects of the rapid development worldwide of discrete mathematics in recent years". He ...

is the namesake of the Graham–Pollak theorem in graph theory. Born in

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, he since moved to United States. He received his

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

(1947) from

Yale University 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 wo ...

. While at Yale, he participated in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition and was on the team representing Yale University (along with

Murray Gell-Mann Murray Gell-Mann (; September 15, 1929 – May 24, 2019) was an American physicist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles. He was the Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Theoretical ...

and

Murray Gerstenhaber Murray Gerstenhaber (born June 5, 1927) is an American mathematician and professor of mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, best known for his contributions to theoretical physics with his discovery of Gerstenhaber algebra. He is also a ...

) that won the second prize in 1947. He earned an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

(1951) degree in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, the latter on the thesis ''Some Estimates for Extremal Distance'' advised by

Lars Ahlfors Lars Valerian Ahlfors (18 April 1907 – 11 October 1996) was a Finnish mathematician, remembered for his work in the field of Riemann surfaces and his text on complex analysis. Background Ahlfors was born in Helsinki, Finland. His mother, S ...

. Pollak then joined

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

(1951), where he in the early 1960s became director of the Mathematics and Statistics Research Center. He authored near forty papers, many of these with

David Slepian David S. Slepian (June 30, 1923 – November 29, 2007) was an American mathematician. He is best known for his work with algebraic coding theory, probability theory, and distributed source coding. He was colleagues with Claude Shannon and Ric ...

and

Henry Landau Henry Jacob Landau is an American mathematician known for his contributions to information theory, including the theory of bandlimited functions and on moment issues. Landau attended the Bronx High School of Science. He received an A.B. (1953), ...

on analysis, function theory, probability theory, and mathematics education. He has applied mathematics to solve problems in physics and networks, communication theory, discrete systems, statistics and data analysis, and economic analysis. Pollak also holds patents in the area of signaling. He has held teaching positions in the mathematics department at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Awards

Earle Raymond Hedrick Earle Raymond Hedrick (September 27, 1876 – February 3, 1943), was an American mathematician and a vice-president of the University of California. Education and career Hedrick was born in Union City, Indiana. After undergraduate work at ...

lecturer (1973) *

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...

chair of New Jersey section (1958–59), governor (1961–63) and president (1975–76). *honorary ''Sc.D.'' at

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

(1977) *honorary doctorate from

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc a ...

(1981) *Dan Christie lecture on ''On the Addressing Problem in Loop Switching, or, How to Embed an Arbitrary Graph in a Squashed Cube'' at

(1983) *

Meritorious Service Award (1990) *

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Founded in 1920, The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is a professional organization for schoolteachers of mathematics in the United States. One of its goals is to improve the standards of mathematics in education. NCTM holds an ...

Lifetime Achievement Award (2010) *

Mary P. Dolciani Award The Mary P. Dolciani Award is an award established in 2012 by the Mathematical Association of America. The award recognizes a pure or applied mathematician with a record of distinguished contributions to K-16 mathematics education in the United S ...

in 2020.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pollak, Henry 1927 births Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American information theorists American statisticians Austrian emigrants to the United States Austrian information theorists Austrian mathematicians Austrian statisticians Columbia University faculty Harvard University alumni Presidents of the Mathematical Association of America Scientists at Bell Labs Scientists from Vienna Yale University alumni