Paul Joseph Sally, Jr. (January 29, 1933 – December 30, 2013) was a professor of mathematics at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, where he was the Director of Undergraduate Studies for 30 years. His research areas were ''p''-adic analysis and

representation theory Representation theory is a branch of mathematics that studies abstract algebraic structures by ''representing'' their elements as linear transformations of vector spaces, and studies modules over these abstract algebraic structures. In essen ...

. He created several programs to improve the preparation of school mathematics teachers, and was seen by many as "a legendary math professor at the University of Chicago."

Life and education

Sally was born in the

Roslindale Roslindale is a primarily residential neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bordered by Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Mattapan. It is served by an MBTA Commuter Rail line, several MBTA bus lines and the MBTA Orange Line in nearby J ...

neighborhood of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

on January 29, 1933. He was a star basketball player at

Boston College High School , motto_translation = ''So they may know You.'' , address = 150 Morrissey Boulevard , city = Boston , state = Massachusetts , zipcode = 02125 , country ...

. He received his BS and MS degrees from Boston College in 1954 and 1956. After a short career in Boston area high schools and at Boston College he entered the first class of mathematics graduate students at

Brandeis Brandeis is a surname. People *Antonietta Brandeis (1848–1926), Czech-born Italian painter *Brandeis Marshall, American data scientist * Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, Austrian artist and Holocaust victim * Irma Brandeis, American Dante scholar * Loui ...

in 1957 and earned his PhD in 1965. During his graduate career he married

Judith D. Sally Judith D. Sally (born Judith Donovan; March 23, 1937, in Manhattan, New York) is a Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Northwestern University. Her research is in commutative algebra, particularly in the study of Noetherian local rings and grad ...

and had three children in three years. David, the oldest, is a Visiting Associate Professor of Business Administration at

Tuck School of Business The Tuck School of Business (also known as Tuck, and formally known as the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance) is the graduate business school of Dartmouth College, a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Founded ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

, Stephen is a partner at

Ropes & Gray Ropes & Gray LLP is a global law firm with 13 offices located in the United States, Asia and Europe. The firm has more than 1,500 lawyers and professionals worldwide, and its clients include corporations and financial institutions, government agen ...

, and Paul, the youngest, is Superintendent at New Trier High School. Sally was diagnosed with

type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar ...

in 1948. The condition resulted in his use of an

eye patch An eyepatch is a small patch that is worn in front of one eye. It may be a cloth patch attached around the head by an elastic band or by a string, an adhesive bandage, or a plastic device which is clipped to a pair of glasses. It is often worn ...

and two

prosthetic In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

legs, which caused him to be widely referred to as "Professor Pirate," and "The Math Pirate" around the

campus. He was known to detest cell phones in class and has destroyed several over the years by inviting students to stomp on them or by throwing them out of a window.

Career

Sally joined the

faculty in 1965 and taught there until his death. He was a member of the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

from 1967–68, 1971–72, 1981–82, and 1983–84. While at the IAS he collaborated with Joseph Shalika. In 1983, he became the first director of the

University of Chicago School Mathematics Project The University of Chicago School Mathematics Project (UCSMP) is a multi-faceted project of the University of Chicago in the United States, intended to improve competency in mathematics in the United States by elevating educational standards for chi ...

, which is responsible for the

Everyday Mathematics ''Everyday Mathematics'' is a pre-K and elementary school mathematics curriculum, developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project (not to be confused with the University of Chicago School of Mathematics). The program, now pub ...

program (also called "Chicago math"). He founded Seminars for Elementary Specialists and Mathematics Educators (SESAME) in 1992. He co-founded the Young Scholars Program with Dr. Diane Herrmann in 1988, providing mathematical enrichment for gifted Chicago-area students in grades 7–12.

Death

Sally died December 30, 2013, aged 80, from

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

, at the University of Chicago Hospital.Paul Sally Jr. Obituary
''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', retrieved 2014-01-01.

Awards

* Amoco Foundation Award for Long-Term Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1995 *

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, ...

Distinguished Service Award, 2000 * Deborah and Franklin Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics of the Mathematical Association of America, 2002 * Fellow of the

, 2012.

Selected publications

* * * * * *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sally, Paul 1933 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Boston College alumni Brandeis University alumni University of Chicago faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Boston College High School alumni People from Roslindale Mathematicians from Massachusetts Institute for Advanced Study people