Jonathan Michael Borwein (20 May 1951 – 2 August 2016) was a Scottish

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

who held an appointment as Laureate Professor 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 ...

at the

University of Newcastle, Australia The University of Newcastle (UON), informally known as Newcastle University, is a public university in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1965, it has a primary campus in the Newcastle suburb of Callaghan. The university al ...

. He was a close associate of David H. Bailey, and they have been prominent public advocates of

experimental mathematics Experimental mathematics is an approach to mathematics in which computation is used to investigate mathematical objects and identify properties and patterns. It has been defined as "that branch of mathematics that concerns itself ultimately with th ...

. Borwein's interests spanned

pure mathematics Pure mathematics is the study of mathematical concepts independently of any application outside mathematics. These concepts may originate in real-world concerns, and the results obtained may later turn out to be useful for practical applications, ...

(analysis),

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...

(optimization),

computational mathematics Computational mathematics is an area of mathematics devoted to the interaction between mathematics and computer computation.National Science Foundation, Division of Mathematical ScienceProgram description PD 06-888 Computational Mathematics 2006 ...

(numerical and computational analysis), and high performance computing. He authored ten books, including several on experimental mathematics, a

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

convex functions In mathematics, a real-valued function is called convex if the line segment between any two points on the graph of the function lies above the graph between the two points. Equivalently, a function is convex if its epigraph (the set of poin ...

, and over 400 refereed articles. He was a co-founder in 1995 of software company MathResources, consulting and producing interactive software primarily for school and university mathematics. Borwein was also an expert on the number pi and especially its computation.

Early life and education

Borwein was born in St. Andrews, Scotland in 1951 into a Jewish family. His father was mathematician

David Borwein David Borwein (March 24, 1924 – September 3, 2021) was a Lithuanian-born Canadian mathematician, known for his research in the summability theory of series and integrals. He also did work in measure theory and probability theory, number theory, a ...

, with whom he collaborated. His brother

Peter Borwein Peter Benjamin Borwein (born St. Andrews, Scotland, May 10, 1953 – 23 August 2020) was a Canadian mathematician and a professor at Simon Fraser University. He is known as a co-author of the paper which presented the Bailey–Borwein–Plo ...

was also a mathematician. Borwein was married to Judith, and had three daughters. He received his B.A. (Honours Math) from

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

in 1971, and his

D.Phil. 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 ...

from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1974 as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

at Jesus College.

Career

Prior to joining

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

in 1993, he worked at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

(1974–91),

Carnegie-Mellon Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

(1980–82) and the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

(1991–93). He was Shrum Professor of Science (1993–2003) and a

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

in Information Technology (2001–08) at

, where he was founding Director of the Centre for Experimental and Constructive Mathematics and developed the

Inverse Symbolic Calculator __NOTOC__ The Inverse Symbolic Calculator is an online number checker established July 18, 1995 by Peter Benjamin Borwein, Jonathan Michael Borwein and Simon Plouffe of the Canadian Centre for Experimental and Constructive Mathematics (Burnaby, ...

together with his brother and

Simon Plouffe Simon Plouffe (born June 11, 1956) is a mathematician who discovered the Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula (BBP algorithm) which permits the computation of the ''n''th binary digit of π, in 1995. His other 2022 formula allows extracting the '' ...

. In 2004, he (re-)joined the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University as a Canada Research Chair in Distributed and Collaborative Research, cross-appointed in Mathematics, while preserving an adjunct appointment at Simon Fraser. Borwein was Governor at large of the

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 ...

(2004–07), was president of the Canadian Mathematical Society (2000–02) and chair of (the Canadian National Science Library) NRC-

CISTI The National Science Library (NSL), formerly known as the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information or CISTI, began in 1917 as the library of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). NRC is the Government of Canada's premie ...

Advisory Board (2000–2003). He served as chair of various

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

scientific programs. He was also Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the

Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute The Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) was established in 2002 for collaboration in the mathematical sciences to strengthen mathematics and statistics, especially in universities. The Fields Institute and the Pacific Insti ...

(AMSI). He chaired the Canadian HPC consortium, later Compute Canada, and the

International Mathematical Union The International Mathematical Union (IMU) is an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the field of mathematics across the world. It is a member of the International Science Council (ISC) and supports ...

's Committee on Electronic Information and Communications (2002–2008).

Awards

Borwein received various awards including the

Chauvenet Prize The Chauvenet Prize is the highest award for mathematical expository writing. It consists of a prize of $1,000 and a certificate, and is awarded yearly by the Mathematical Association of America in recognition of an outstanding expository article ...

(1993), Fellowship in the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

(1994), Fellowship in the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

(2002), an honorary degree from

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

(1999), and foreign membership in the

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (abbreviated BAS; bg, Българска академия на науките, ''Balgarska akademiya na naukite'', abbreviated ''БАН'') is the National Academy of Bulgaria, established in 1869. The Academy ...

(2003). He was elected as a Fellow to the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

(2010). In 2014, he became a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. He was an ISI highly cited mathematician for the period 1981–1999.

References

External links

Jonathan Borwein's homepageJonathan Borwein memorial website
*
The experimental mathematics homepage and blogResearcher ID
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borwein, Jonathan 1951 births 2016 deaths Canadian mathematicians Scottish mathematicians Jewish scientists Scottish people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Canadian Rhodes Scholars People from St Andrews British expatriate academics in Canada Dalhousie University faculty Canada Research Chairs Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Variational analysts University of Newcastle (Australia) faculty University of Waterloo faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Presidents of the Canadian Mathematical Society

Early life and education

Career

Awards

See also

References

External links