László Fuchs (born June 24, 1924) is a Hungarian-born American mathematician, the Evelyn and John G. Phillips Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Mathematics at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

.Faculty profile
, Tulane Univ., retrieved 2012-02-19. He is known for his research and textbooks in

group theory In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as group (mathematics), groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as ring (mathematics), rings, field ...

and

abstract algebra In mathematics, more specifically algebra, abstract algebra or modern algebra is the study of algebraic structures. Algebraic structures include groups, rings, fields, modules, vector spaces, lattices, and algebras over a field. The term ''a ...

...

Biography

Fuchs was born on June 24, 1924 in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, into an academic family: his father was a linguist and a member of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1946 and a doctorate in 1947 from

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University ( hu, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, ELTE) is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in Hung ...

. After teaching high school mathematics for two years, and then holding positions at Eötvös Loránd, the Mathematical Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

, he joined the Tulane faculty in 1968. At Tulane, Fuchs chaired the mathematics department from 1977 to 1979. He retired in 2004. In 2004, Fuchs was honored at the

80th anniversary as one of the "big five" most distinguished Hungarian mathematicians. The other honorees included John Horvath, János Aczél,

Ákos Császár Ákos Császár ( hu, Császár Ákos, ) (26 February 1924, Budapest – 14 December 2017, Budapest) was a Hungarian mathematician, specializing in general topology and real analysis. He discovered the Császár polyhedron, a nonconvex polyhedr ...

and Steven Gaal.Tribute to the achievements of five outstanding Hungarian mathematicians
Department of Mathematical Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Fuchs has nearly 100 academic descendants, many of them through his student at Eötvös Loránd,

George Grätzer George A. Grätzer ( hu, Grätzer György; born 2 August 1936, in Budapest) is a Hungarian-Canadian mathematician, specializing in lattice theory and universal algebra. He is known for his books on LaTeX and his proof with E. Tamás Schmidt of the ...

. He was treasurer of the

János Bolyai Mathematical Society The János Bolyai Mathematical Society (Bolyai János Matematikai Társulat, BJMT) is the Hungarian mathematical society, named after János Bolyai, a 19th-century Hungarian mathematician, a co-discoverer of non-Euclidean geometry. It is the profes ...

from 1949 until 1963, and secretary-general of the society from 1963 to 1966.

Books

*. Reprinted by Pergamon Press, International Series of Monographs on Pure and Applied Mathematics, 1960. *. Translated into Russian and German. *. *. *. *. *. *.

Awards and honors

Fuchs won the

Kossuth Prize The Kossuth Prize ( hu, Kossuth-díj) is a state-sponsored award in Hungary, named after the Hungarian politician and revolutionist Lajos Kossuth. The Prize was established in 1948 (on occasion of the centenary of the March 15th revolution, the ...

in 1953. He is a foreign member of the

.. Two conferences were dedicated to him on the occasion of his 70th birthday, and another on his 75th. At Tulane University, Fuchs held the W. R. Irby Professorship from 1979 to 1992, and the Evelyn and John G. Phillips Distinguished Professorship from then until his retirement. In 2012 he became a fellow of the

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, ...

.List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
retrieved 2012-12-29. Laszlo_fuchs

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuchs, Laszlo 1924 births Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 20th-century Hungarian mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians 21st-century Hungarian mathematicians Eötvös Loránd University alumni Academic staff of Eötvös Loránd University University of Miami faculty Tulane University faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Algebraists Group theorists Hungarian emigrants to the United States