William Arthur ("Art") Kirk was an American

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 ...

. His research interests include

nonlinear functional analysis Nonlinear functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis that deals with nonlinear mappings. Topics Its subject matter includes: * generalizations of calculus to Banach spaces * implicit function theorems * fixed-point theorems (Br ...

, the geometry of

Banach space In mathematics, more specifically in functional analysis, a Banach space (pronounced ) is a complete normed vector space. Thus, a Banach space is a vector space with a metric that allows the computation of vector length and distance between vector ...

s and

metric spaces In mathematics, a metric space is a set together with a notion of ''distance'' between its elements, usually called points. The distance is measured by a function called a metric or distance function. Metric spaces are the most general settin ...

. In particular, he has made notable contributions to the

fixed point theory In mathematics, a fixed-point theorem is a result saying that a function ''F'' will have at least one fixed point (a point ''x'' for which ''F''(''x'') = ''x''), under some conditions on ''F'' that can be stated in general terms. Some authors cla ...

of metric spaces; for example, he is one of the two namesakes of the Caristi-Kirk fixed point theorem of 1976. He is also known for the Kirk theorem of 1964. He completed his PhD, entitled "Metrization of Surface Curvature", at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

in August 1962 under the supervision of

Leonard Blumenthal Leonard Mascot Blumenthal (February 27, 1901 – August 1984) was a Jewish American mathematician. He received his Ph.D. in 1927 from Johns Hopkins University, under the supervision of Frank Morley; his dissertation was titled ''Lagrange Res ...

. He then became an assistant professor of mathematics at the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

from 1962 to 1967. Since 1967 he has worked from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

, as a full professor of mathematics since 1971 and as department chair from 1985 to 1991. He holds an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (MCSU) ( pl, Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie, UMCS) was founded October 23, 1944 in Lublin. It is named in honour of Marie Curie-Sklodowska. Currently the number of students is almost 36,000. The ...

, an institution which was an early centre of study for the fixed point theory of metric spaces.

External links

*
William A. Kirk's personal webpage at the University of Iowa
* Honorary doctorate from Maria Curie-Skłodowska University: *

*

20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians University of Iowa faculty University of Missouri alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-mathematician-stub