Edward Burr Van Vleck
Edward Burr Van Vleck (June 7, 1863, Middletown, Connecticut – June 3, 1943, Madison, Wisconsin) was an American mathematician.
Early life
Van Vleck was born June 7, 1863, Middletown, Connecticut. He was the son of astronomer John Monroe Van ...
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 ...
and a Vilas Research Professor at the
University of Wisconsin, Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
. He received a Ph.D. from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
in 1966 under the direction of
Jürgen Moser
Jürgen Kurt Moser (July 4, 1928 – December 17, 1999) was a German-American mathematician, honored for work spanning over four decades, including Hamiltonian dynamical systems and partial differential equations.
Life
Moser's mother Ilse Strehl ...
. From 1966 to 1969 he held a position as assistant professor at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
. He has visited many mathematical institutions all over the world (among them universities at Aarhus, Pisa, Paris and ETH in Zurich). In 1978 Paul Rabinowitz became a fellow of the
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been ...
.
He works in the fields of
partial differential equations
In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a multivariable function.
The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be solved for, similarly to ...
and nonlinear analysis. He is best known for his global
bifurcation
Bifurcation or bifurcated may refer to:
Science and technology
* Bifurcation theory, the study of sudden changes in dynamical systems
** Bifurcation, of an incompressible flow, modeled by squeeze mapping the fluid flow
* River bifurcation, the for ...
theorem and the
mountain pass theorem The mountain pass theorem is an existence theorem from the calculus of variations, originally due to Antonio Ambrosetti and Paul Rabinowitz. Given certain conditions on a function, the theorem demonstrates the existence of a saddle point. The th ...
, the latter done jointly with
Antonio Ambrosetti
Antonio Ambrosetti (25 November 1944 – 20 November 2020) was an Italian mathematician who worked in the fields of partial differential equations and calculus of variations.
Scientific activity
Ambrosetti studied at the University of Padua and w ...
. However also the linking and saddle point theorems, results concerning the existence of periodic solutions to hamiltonian systems, variational methods in the theory of critical points of strongly indefinite functional under the absence of compactness conditions of the Palais–Smale type and other achievements of Paul Rabinowitz have found their place in the history of mathematics.
He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the
George David Birkhoff Prize
The George David Birkhoff Prize in applied mathematics is awarded – jointly by the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) – in honour of George David Birkhoff (1884–1944). It is curre ...
in 1998. He was elected as a member of the
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
in 1998. 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, ...
. In 2014 Paul Rabinowitz was awarded with the Juliusz Schauder Medal, the prize established by the Juliusz Schauder Center for Nonlinear Studies at the