Stanislaus Thomas Maria (Stan) Ackermans (1936 – 1995) was a Dutch

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 the seventh

rector magnificus A rector (Latin for 'ruler') is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world the rector is often the most senior official in a un ...

of the

Eindhoven University of Technology The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc a ...

. He was also one of the founders, the namesake and the first director of the Stan Ackermans Instituut.

Biography

Ackermans was the son of Rie A.G. Schonk and Anton J.J.M. Ackermans, a high school teacher in Amsterdam. Following his secondary education, Ackermans attended the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

, where he studied

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 ...

; he graduated under professor N.G. de Bruijn. In 1961 he followed his professor to Eindhoven to work under him again, this time on his

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

(which he was granted in 1964). In the period of 1967–68 he worked at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. He was appointed full

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 ...

of mathematics back in Eindhoven in 1972, for the chairs of

algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary a ...

and

functional analysis Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (e.g. Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics)#Defini ...

. Ackermans became dean of the mathematics department in 1978; he remained as the dean until 1981, when he became conrector of the university. In 1982 he succeeded Professor Hans Erkelens as

. This was also the year of the two-phase structural reformation of higher education in The Netherlands (Dutch: ''Tweefasenstructuur wetenschappelijk onderwijs'') and the financial cutback program ''Division of labor and concentration'' (Dutch: ''Taakverdeling en concentratie''), which were mandated by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. Ackermans completed one term as rector. In 1986 he took the initiative in founding the ''Institute for Continuing Education'' (Dutch: ''Instituut Vervolgopleidingen''), of which he became the scientific director. This institute offers two-year, post-graduate technical designer education to graduates of the two-phase programs; the institute was renamed the

Stan Ackermans Institute 4TU (stylized as 4TU.Federation) is the federation of the four Dutch universities of technology : * Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) * Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) * University of Twente (UT) * Wageningen University and ...

after Ackerman's death in 1995.

Notable publications

* ''Algebra en Analyse'' (Academic Science, Den Haag, 1976; ) together with Professor Jack Van Lint — textbook used for decades at the university.

References

External links

Public lecture given upon accepting the position of lector in mathematics at the Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven on Friday 14 January 1966

An Asymptomatic Method in the Theory of Series
Ackerman's 1964 PhD dissertation {{DEFAULTSORT:Ackermans, Stan 1936 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Dutch mathematicians Scientists from Amsterdam University of Amsterdam alumni Eindhoven University of Technology alumni Eindhoven University of Technology faculty Rectores Magnifici of the Eindhoven University of Technology