Murray Seymour Klamkin (March 5, 1921 – August 6, 2004) was an American mathematician, known as prolific proposer and editor of professionally-challenging mathematical problems.

Life

Klamkin was born on March 5, 1921 in Brooklyn,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He received a bachelor's degree from the

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

in 1942 and, after four years of service in the United States Army, earned a master's degree from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1947, where he taught from 1948 until 1957. After this, Klamkin worked at AVCO, taught at

SUNY Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

(1962–1964), and served as the principal research scientist at Ford Motor Company (1965–1976). During this period, he was also a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota. After leaving Ford, he became a professor at the University of Waterloo. From 1976 to 1981 Klamkin was the chairman of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Alberta. After 1981 he became an

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

professor at Alberta. Klamkin died August 6, 2004.

Mathematical problems

Klamkin was known worldwide as a prolific proposer and editor of professionally challenging mathematical problems. He served as problem editor for '' SIAM Review'', the ''

American Mathematical Monthly ''The American Mathematical Monthly'' is a mathematical journal founded by Benjamin Finkel in 1894. It is published ten times each year by Taylor & Francis for the Mathematical Association of America. The ''American Mathematical Monthly'' is an e ...

'', '' Math Horizons'', and other journals. He was also known for his work in high-level

mathematics competitions Mathematics competitions or mathematical olympiads are competitive events where participants complete a math test. These tests may require multiple choice or numeric answers, or a detailed written solution or proof. International mathematics compe ...

, such as the

USA Mathematical Olympiad The United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) is a highly selective high school mathematics competition held annually in the United States. Since its debut in 1972, it has served as the final round of the American Mathematics Compet ...

, the

International Mathematical Olympiad The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except i ...

, and the Putnam Competition. In 1988 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 ...

gave him its Award for Distinguished Service to Mathematics, its highest service award. In 1992, the

World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

awarded Klamkin the

David Hilbert Award The David Hilbert Award, named after David Hilbert, was established by the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions to acknowledge mathematicians who have contributed to the development of mathematics worldwide. Each awardee is sele ...

for his contributions to mathematics competitions.''David Hilbert and Paul Erdös Awards''
, web page at the WFNMC, accessed 2014-03-03.

Selected bibliography

* "The asymmetric propeller", Leon Bankoff, Paul Erdös, and Murray S. Klamkin, ''Mathematics Magazine'' 46, #5 (November 1973), pp. 270–272. * ''International Mathematical Olympiads, 1978–1985 and Forty Supplementary Problems'', ed. Murray S. Klamkin, pub. Washington, DC:

, 1986. . * ''Mathematical Modelling: Classroom Notes in Applied Mathematics'', ed. Murray S. Klamkin, pub. Philadelphia, PA:

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is a professional society dedicated to applied mathematics, computational science, and data science through research, publications, and community. SIAM is the world's largest scientific socie ...

, 1987. . * ''U.S.A. Mathematical Olympiads, 1972–1986'', ed. Murray S. Klamkin, pub. Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America, 1988. . * ''Problems in Applied Mathematics: Selections from SIAM Review'', ed. Murray S. Klamkin, pub. Philadelphia, PA: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 1990. . * ''Five Hundred Mathematical Challenges'', Edward J. Barbeau, Murray S. Klamkin, and William O. J. Moser, pub. Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America, 1995. . * A collection of problems posed by Klamkin in ''

Crux Mathematicorum with Mathematical Mayhem ''Crux Mathematicorum'' is a scientific journal of mathematics published by the Canadian Mathematical Society. It contains mathematical problems for secondary school and undergraduate students. , its editor-in-chief is Kseniya Garaschuk. The journ ...

''. * ''On cooking a roast'', Murray S. Klamkin. ''SIAM Review'' 3.2 (1961): 167–169.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klamkin, Murray S. 1921 births 2004 deaths Canadian mathematicians Mathematics educators 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni Polytechnic Institute of New York University faculty University at Buffalo faculty University of Waterloo faculty University of Alberta faculty United States Army personnel of World War II American emigrants to Canada

Life

Mathematical problems

Selected bibliography

See also

References