Richard Paul McGehee (born 20 September 1943, in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
) is an American mathematician, who works on
dynamical system
In mathematics, a dynamical system is a system in which a function describes the time dependence of a point in an ambient space. Examples include the mathematical models that describe the swinging of a clock pendulum, the flow of water in ...
s with special emphasis on
celestial mechanics
Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of objects in outer space. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics (classical mechanics) to astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, to ...
.
McGehee received from
Caltech
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
in 1964 his bachelor's degree and from
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 Stat ...
in 1965 his master's degree and in 1969 his Ph.D. under
Charles C. Conley with thesis ''Homoclinic orbits in the restricted three body problem''. As a postdoc he was at the
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (commonly known as Courant or CIMS) is the mathematics research school of New York University (NYU), and is among the most prestigious mathematics schools and mathematical sciences research cente ...
of
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, th ...
. In 1970 he became an assistant professor and in 1979 a full professor at the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
, where he was from 1994 to 1998 the director of the Center for the Computation and Visualization of Geometric Structures.
In the 1970s he introduced a coordinate transformation (now known as the
McGehee transformation) which he used to regularize singularities arising in the Newtonian
three-body problem
In physics and classical mechanics, the three-body problem is the problem of taking the initial positions and velocities (or momenta) of three point masses and solving for their subsequent motion according to Newton's laws of motion and Newton's ...
. In 1975 he, with
John N. Mather, proved that for the Newtonian collinear four-body problem there exist solutions which become unbounded in a finite time interval.
In 1978 he was an Invited Speaker on the subject of ''Singularities in classical celestial mechanics'' at the
International Congress of Mathematicians in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
.
See also
*
McGehee transformation
Selected publications
*
*
*with Robert A. Armstrong:
*
*
*
*as editor with Kenneth R. Meyer:
References
External links
Richard McGehee's Publication List, umn.edu
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGehee, Richard
20th-century American mathematicians
21st-century American mathematicians
California Institute of Technology alumni
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
University of Minnesota faculty
1943 births
Living people