Jean Estelle Hirsh Rubin (October 29, 1926 – October 25, 2002) was an American mathematician known for her research on the

axiom of choice In mathematics, the axiom of choice, or AC, is an axiom of set theory equivalent to the statement that ''a Cartesian product of a collection of non-empty sets is non-empty''. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection ...

. She worked for many years as a professor of mathematics at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

. Rubin wrote five books: three on the axiom of choice, and two more on more general topics in

set theory Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies 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 mathematics, is mostly conce ...

and

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of 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 formal ...

Education and career

Jean Hirsch was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, graduated from

Queens College, City University of New York Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body ...

in 1948, and completed a master's degree 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 ...

in 1949. She did her doctoral studies at Stanford University, during which time she married and changed her name to Jean Rubin. She completed her Ph.D. at Stanford in 1955. Her dissertation, jointly supervised by J.C.C. McKinsey and

Patrick Suppes Patrick Colonel Suppes (; March 17, 1922 – November 17, 2014) was an American philosopher who made significant contributions to philosophy of science, the theory of measurement, the foundations of quantum mechanics, decision theory, psychology ...

, was ''Bi-Modal Logic, Double Closure Algebras and Hilbert Space''. She became a lecturer at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

and, in 1960, an assistant professor at Michigan State University. In 1967, she moved again, to

, where she remained for the rest of her career.

Personal life

Rubin was married to statistician

Herman Rubin Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minn ...

, with whom she wrote two of her books. Their son is mathematician and aerospace engineer

Arthur Rubin Arthur Leonard Rubin (born 1956) is an American mathematician and aerospace engineer. He was named a Putnam Fellow on four consecutive occasions from 1970 to 1973. Life and career Rubin's mother was Jean E. Rubin, a professor of mathematics at ...

Books

Rubin was the author or co-author of: *'' Equivalents of the Axiom of Choice'' (with Herman Rubin, Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics 34,

North-Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a p ...

, 1963; 2nd ed., Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics 116, 1985) *''Set Theory for the Mathematician'' (Holden-Day, 1967) *''Mathematical Logic: Applications and Theory'' (

Saunders Saunders is a surname of English and Scottish patronymic origin derived from Sander, a mediaeval form of Alexander.See also: Sander (name) People * Ab Saunders (1851–1883), American cowboy and gunman * Al Saunders (born 1947), American foot ...

, 1990) *''Consequences of the Axiom of Choice'' (with Paul Howard, Mathematical Surveys and Monographs 59,

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, ...

, 1998)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubin, Jean E. 1926 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians Queens College, City University of New York alumni Columbia University alumni 20th-century women mathematicians Set theorists 20th-century American women