Robert Creighton Buck (30 August 1920

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

– 1 February 1998 Wisconsin), usually cited as R. Creighton Buck, was an American mathematician who, with Ralph Boas, introduced

Boas–Buck polynomials In mathematics, Boas–Buck polynomials are sequences of polynomials \Phi_n^(z) defined from analytic functions B and C by generating functions of the form :\displaystyle C(zt^r B(t))=\sum_\Phi_n^(z)t^n. The case r=1, sometimes called generalized ...

. He taught at

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded when Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848, UW–Madison ...

for 40 years. In addition, he was a writer.

Biography

Buck was born in

. He studied at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

and then earned his PhD in 1947 at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

under

David Widder David Vernon Widder (25 March 1898 – 8 July 1990) was an American mathematician. He earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1924 under George Birkhoff and went on to join the faculty there. He was a co-founder of the ''Duke Mathematical Jour ...

and Ralph Boas with dissertation ''Uniqueness, Interpolation and Characterization Theorems for Functions of Exponential Type''. For three years he was an assistant professor at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, before he became in 1950 an associate 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 ...

, where he was promoted to professor in 1954. In 1973, he became the acting director of the University of Wisconsin Army Mathematics Research Center when

J. Barkley Rosser John Barkley Rosser Sr. (December 6, 1907 – September 5, 1989) was an American logician, a student of Alonzo Church, and known for his part in the Church–Rosser theorem, in lambda calculus. He also developed what is now called the "Rosser siev ...

retired. At Madison he became in 1980 "Hilldale Professor" and from 1964 to 1966 he was chair of the mathematics department. In 1990 he retired as professor emeritus but remained mathematically active. Buck worked on

approximation theory In mathematics, approximation theory is concerned with how function (mathematics), functions can best be approximation, approximated with simpler functions, and with quantitative property, quantitatively characterization (mathematics), characteri ...

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 ...

, topological algebra, and

operations research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve deci ...

. He worked for six years for the

Institute for Defense Analyses The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) is an American non-profit corporation that administers three federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) – the Systems and Analyses Center (SAC), the Science and Technology Policy Institute ...

in operations research. Buck wrote, in collaboration with Ellen F. Buck, a textbook ''Advanced Calculus'', commonly used in U.S. colleges and universities. He also worked on the history of mathematics. For his essay ''Sherlock Holmes in Babylon'' he won the

Lester Randolph Ford Award Lester is an ancient Anglo-Saxon surname and given name. Notable people and characters with the name include: People Given name * Lester Bangs (1948–1982), American music critic * Lester W. Bentley (1908–1972), American artist from Wisco ...

. His doctoral students include Lee Rubel and Thomas W. Hawkins, a well-known historian of mathematics. Buck was vice-president 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, ...

and 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 ...

(MAA), whose "Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics“ (CUPM) he founded and from 1959 to 1963 chaired. In 1962 he was an invited speaker (''Global solutions of differential equations'') at the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the Nevanlinna Prize (to be rename ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. Buck was an accomplished amateur pianist and at age 18 won a prize for composition for piano. He wrote several science fiction stories.

Publications

* Advanced Calculus, McGraw Hill, New York 1956, 3rd edn. Waveland Press, 2003 * with Ralph Boas: Polynomial expansions of analytic functions, Springer 1958, 2nd edn, Academic Press, Springer 1964 * with Ellen F. Buck: Introduction to differential equations, Boston, Houghton Mifflin 1978 * with Alfred Willcox: Calculus of several variables, Houghton Mifflin 1971
“Sherlock Holmes in Babylon”, AMM 1980

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buck, Robert Greighton 1920 births 1998 deaths Educators from Cincinnati Scientists from Madison, Wisconsin Harvard University alumni University of Cincinnati alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Writers from Cincinnati Writers from Madison, Wisconsin 20th-century American mathematicians