Joseph Bishop Keller (July 31, 1923 – September 7, 2016) 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 ...

who specialized in

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathemati ...

. He was best known for his work on the "geometrical theory of diffraction" (GTD).

Early life and education

Born in Paterson, New Jersey on July 31, 1923, Keller attended Eastside High School, where he was a member of the math team. After earning his undergraduate degree in 1943 at

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 ...

, Keller obtained his PhD in 1948 from NYU under the supervision of

Richard Courant Richard Courant (January 8, 1888 – January 27, 1972) was a German American mathematician. He is best known by the general public for the book '' What is Mathematics?'', co-written with Herbert Robbins. His research focused on the areas of real ...

. He was a Professor of Mathematics in the

Courant Institute 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 ...

at New York University until 1979. Then he was Professor of Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University until 1993, when he became

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Research

Keller worked on the application of mathematics to problems in science and engineering, such as

wave propagation Wave propagation is any of the ways in which waves travel. Single wave propagation can be calculated by 2nd order wave equation ( standing wavefield) or 1st order one-way wave equation. With respect to the direction of the oscillation relative to ...

. He contributed to the

Einstein–Brillouin–Keller method The Einstein–Brillouin–Keller method (EBK) is a semiclassical method (named after Albert Einstein, Léon Brillouin, and Joseph B. Keller) used to compute eigenvalues in quantum-mechanical systems. EBK quantization is an improvement from Boh ...

for computing eigenvalues in

quantum mechanical Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, qua ...

systems.

Awards and honors

Keller was awarded a

Lester R. 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 Wisc ...

(shared with David W. McLaughlin) in 1976 and (not shared) in 1977. In 1988 he was awarded the U.S.

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...

, and in 1997 he was awarded the

Wolf Prize The Wolf Prize is an international award granted in Israel, that has been presented most years since 1978 to living scientists and artists for ''"achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people ... irrespective of nati ...

by the Israel-based Wolf Foundation. In 1996, he was awarded the

Nemmers Prize in Mathematics The Frederic Esser Nemmers Prize in Mathematics is awarded biennially from Northwestern University. It was initially endowed along with a companion prize, the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics, as part of a $14 million donation from the Nemme ...

. In 1999 he was awarded the

Ig Nobel Prize The Ig Nobel Prize ( ) is a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name o ...

for calculating how to make a teapot spout that does not drip. With Patrick B. Warren, Robin C. Ball and Raymond E. Goldstein, Keller was awarded an

in 2012 for calculating the forces that shape and move

ponytail A ponytail is a hairstyle in which some, most or all of the hair on the head is pulled away from the face, gathered and secured at the back of the head with a hair tie, clip, or other similar accessory and allowed to hang freely from that poin ...

hair. In 2012 he became a fellow 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, ...

Personal life

Keller's second wife, Alice S. Whittemore, started her career as a pure mathematician but shifted her interests to

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evide ...

and biostatistics. Keller had a brother who was also a mathematician, Herbert B. Keller, who studied numerical analysis,

scientific computing Computational science, also known as scientific computing or scientific computation (SC), is a field in mathematics that uses advanced computing capabilities to understand and solve complex problems. It is an area of science that spans many disc ...

bifurcation theory Bifurcation theory is the mathematical study of changes in the qualitative or topological structure of a given family of curves, such as the integral curves of a family of vector fields, and the solutions of a family of differential equations. ...

, path following and homotopy methods, and

computational fluid dynamics Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate ...

. Herbert Keller was a professor at

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 ...

. Both brothers contributed to the fields of

electromagnetics In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions o ...

and fluid dynamics. Joseph Keller died in Stanford,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

on September 7, 2016 from a recurrence of kidney cancer first diagnosed in 2003.

Major publications

* J.B. Keller. ''On solutions of Δu=f(u).'' Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 10 (1957), 503–510. * Edward W. Larsen and Joseph B. Keller. ''Asymptotic solution of neutron transport problems for small mean free paths.'' J. Mathematical Phys. 15 (1974), 75–81. * Joseph B. Keller and Dan Givoli. ''Exact nonreflecting boundary conditions.'' J. Comput. Phys. 82 (1989), no. 1, 172–192. * Jacob Rubinstein, Peter Sternberg, and Joseph B. Keller. ''Fast reaction, slow diffusion, and curve shortening.'' SIAM J. Appl. Math. 49 (1989), no. 1, 116–133. * Marcus J. Grote and Joseph B. Keller. ''On nonreflecting boundary conditions.'' J. Comput. Phys. 122 (1995), no. 2, 231–243. * Leonid Ryzhik, George Papanicolaou, and Joseph B. Keller. ''Transport equations for elastic and other waves in random media.'' Wave Motion 24 (1996), no. 4, 327–370.

References

External links

Official biography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Joseph 1923 births 2016 deaths Eastside High School (Paterson, New Jersey) alumni People from Paterson, New Jersey 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Jewish American scientists Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences faculty Stanford University School of Engineering faculty Foreign Members of the Royal Society National Medal of Science laureates Wolf Prize in Mathematics laureates Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Fellows of the American Mathematical Society 21st-century American Jews Fellows of the American Physical Society