Patrick Brendan Kennedy (20 July 1929 in

Clarecastle Clarecastle (''An Clár'' or ) is a village just south of Ennis in County Clare, Ireland. From 2008 to 2016 the village saw a significant population increase due to its proximity to Ennis, Shannon, and Limerick. Name The town is named after t ...

, County Clare,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

- 8 June 1966 in

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England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) was an Irish chess champion, and an academic 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 ...

, notable for his work in

complex analysis Complex analysis, traditionally known as the theory of functions of a complex variable, is the branch of mathematical analysis that investigates Function (mathematics), functions of complex numbers. It is helpful in many branches of mathemati ...

Early life, family, and personal life

Kennedy was the third child of Pat Kennedy and Kit O'Sullivan, his father, a master

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

by trade, decided instead to join the

police force The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

in 1923, many on his mother's side were

blacksmiths A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, grill ...

near

Castlemaine Castlemaine may mean: * Castlemaine, Victoria, a town in Victoria, Australia ** Castlemaine Football Club, an Australian rules football club ** Castlemaine railway station * Castlemaine, County Kerry, a town in Ireland * Castlemaine Brewery, Western ...

. His parents moved to

Ballylongford Ballylongford (historically ''Bealalongford'', from ) is a village near Listowel in northern County Kerry, Ireland. Geography The village is situated near the estuary of the Ballyline River, on Ballylongford Bay, a tidal estuary of the River Sha ...

in 1936, and secured a transfer for Kennedy to attend the North Monastery secondary school in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. Whilst at the North Monastery School, Kennedy won the Honan Scholarship to

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...

, where in 1949 was awarded his

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Mathematics and Mathematical Physics. In the same year, Kennedy also took part in the

Irish Chess Championship The Irish Chess Championship is the national Championship of Ireland, currently run by the Irish Chess Union ( ICU), the FIDE-recognised governing body for the game. Below is the list of champions. The first champion was J.A. Porterfield Rynd, wh ...

, and won 7 games out of 7, becoming the Irish chess Champion, he has been the only Irish Chess champion to win in such a way. After this, Kennedy was described as having a falling off in the quality of his play, and lost his title at the 1950 Championship. In 1951, Kennedy completed his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

, and was recommended by his examiner V. C. A. Ferraro, who at the time was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

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 ...

at the

University College of the South West , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, to study for a

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 ...

with

Walter Hayman Walter Kurt Hayman FRS (6 January 1926 – 1 January 2020) was a British mathematician known for contributions to complex analysis. He was a professor at Imperial College London. Life and work Hayman was born in Cologne, Germany, the son of ...

at Exeter. Kennedy's first paper was published in 1953, titled ''On a conjecture of Heins'', which concerned a conjecture of Heins on

subharmonic functions In music, the undertone series or subharmonic series is a sequence of notes that results from inverting the intervals of the overtone series. While overtones naturally occur with the physical production of music on instruments, undertones must ...

and gives positive results. That same year he was appointed as an assistant lecturer 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 ...

at the

University of Aberystwyth , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

, and by 1954 he was awarded a

by the

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) ( ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann) is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called ''university college, constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under t ...

for his thesis ''Asymptotic Values on Integral Functions.'' He married Pamela Fishwick in March 1954, and had three children, David Patrick Kennedy, Anne Deirdre Kennedy, and Jane C Deborah Kennedy. Since Kennedy lived in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

at the time, he had wanted to avoid

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

for the English, and so took a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

position at

in 1954, his objectives were to modernise courses and raise standards, and his research output increased.

Hayman Hayman is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Al Hayman (1847–1917), business partner of Charles Frohman in ''Theatrical Syndicate'' *Andy Hayman, CBE, QPM (born 1959), retired British police officer, ...

characterises Kennedy's attitude to academic politics as "black and white", and Kennedy wasn't afraid to work hard both in his research and on committee to achieve productive outcomes. In 1956, he was appointed

professor of mathematics Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

, and awarded the

D.Sc. Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

by the

in 1960, he was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...

in 1962. He was appointed the first

at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

in 1962, which planned to open the next year. He worked at building the

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

and appointed staff to the

department. Kennedy took his life in 1966 on the night of 8 June, the coroner explained it was a combination of a psychiatric illness and added pressure of work, with his wife, Fishwick stating: " eset himself too high a standard and drove himself too hard".

List of academic works

, a prominent British

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 ...

and colleague of Kennedy, describes Kennedy's work as "extremely successful in all three fields in which he wrote. Kennedy collaborated with several of his peers in his papers, and was capable of constructing examples to his own and others results that were "simple although far from obvious". Kennedy's work can be broken into three fields:

Theory of functions of a complex variable

* "On a conjecture of Heins". * "Conformal mapping of bounded domains". * "A class of integral functions bounded on certain curves". * With W. K. Hayman, "On the growth of multivalent functions ". * "On a theorem of Hayman concerning quasibounded functions ". * "A property of bounded regular functions ". * "A problem on bounded analytic functions ". * "On the derivative of a function of bounded characteristic". * With J. B. Twomey, "Some properties of bounded univalent functions and related classes of functions".

Fourier series

* "Fourier series with gaps". * "Fourier series with gaps. II". * "Remark on a theorem of Zygmund". * "On the coefficients in certain Fourier series". * "A remark on continuity conditions". * "Note on Fourier series with Hadamard gaps".

Tauberian theorems

* "Integrability theorems for

power series In mathematics, a power series (in one variable) is an infinite series of the form \sum_^\infty a_n \left(x - c\right)^n = a_0 + a_1 (x - c) + a_2 (x - c)^2 + \dots where ''an'' represents the coefficient of the ''n''th term and ''c'' is a const ...

". * " A note on uniformly distributed sequences ". * "General integrability theorems for power series". * With P. Sziisz, " On a bounded increasing power series". * "On a theorem of Sziisz".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Patrick Brendan 1929 births 1966 deaths 20th-century Irish mathematicians Irish chess players Alumni of University College Cork Alumni of the University of Exeter People associated with University College Cork Academics of the University of York National University of Ireland Members of the Royal Irish Academy Scientists from County Clare