Max Krook (1913 – 4 August 1985) was an American mathematician and astrophysicist.
''The New York Times'', 10 August 1985 (accessed 12 June 2008). Krook was born in

Standerton Standerton is a large commercial and agricultural town lying on the banks of the Vaal River in Mpumalanga, South Africa, which specialises in cattle, dairy, maize and poultry farming. The town was established in 1876 and named after Boer leader Co ...

, South Africa, the son of Pesach Israel Krook and Leah Krook.Geni, "Max Krook"
/ref> An undergraduate at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

, Krook received a doctorate in mathematics from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

in England in 1938 under the supervision of Arthur Eddington. He was subsequently recruited to

Birmingham University , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

Rudolf Peierls Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls, (; ; 5 June 1907 – 19 September 1995) was a German-born British physicist who played a major role in Tube Alloys, Britain's nuclear weapon programme, as well as the subsequent Manhattan Project, the combined Allie ...

. Krook came to the United States in 1950 as a research associate in physics at the Indiana University, soon moving to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

. He was additionally appointed a research fellow at the

Harvard College Observatory The Harvard College Observatory (HCO) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United St ...

in 1952. In 1956, he became a lecturer in astronomy, and, in 1959, a professor in the Harvard's Division of Applied Sciences and the department of astronomy. Robert May (later, Baron May of Oxford) was one of his first postdoctoral students. Krook was for decades a regular at Cambridge's

Legal Sea Foods Legal Sea Foods is an American restaurant chain of casual-dining seafood restaurants mostly located in the Northeastern region of the United States. The current company headquarters is located in the South Boston Seaport District and as of 202 ...

restaurant, where a particular table was often held for him at lunchtime. Krook married Gulielma Penn-Gaskel White, 1952 graduate of Radcliffe College, and later successful photographer, in 1956. Although ultimately divorced, they continued to share a residence in

Arlington, Massachusetts Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census. History European colonists settled the Town of Arlington in 1635 as a village w ...

until the time of his death.SheltiesOnLine.com, "Memorial: Gulielma Penn-Gaskel White Krook, 76, photographed shelties and collies"
/ref> Krook is remembered for his contribution to the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook model.

Selected works

* ''Functions of a Complex Variable: Theory and Technique'', by George F. Carrier, Max Krook, and Carl E. Pearson, SIAM, 2005, (first edition: McGraw-Hill, 1966, ). *

References

1985 deaths 20th-century American physicists 1913 births University of the Witwatersrand alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge People from Standerton Academics of the University of Birmingham Indiana University people Harvard College Observatory people Harvard University faculty People from Arlington, Massachusetts Mathematicians from Massachusetts South African emigrants to the United States {{US-scientist-stub