John Erik Fornæss (born 14 October 1946,

Hamar, Norway Hamar is a town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the traditional region of Hedmarken. The town is located on the shores of Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake ...

) is a Norwegian-American mathematician. Fornæss received his master's degree in 1970 from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

with thesis ''Uniform approximation on manifolds'' and his PhD in 1974 from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

under Edgar Lee Stout with thesis ''Embedding Strictly Pseudoconvex Domains in Convex Domains''. At

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

he became in 1974 an instructor, in 1976 an assistant professor, in 1978 an associate professor, and in 1981 a full professor. Since 1991 he has been a professor at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. He does research on the theory of functions of several complex variables with emphasis on their geometry and dynamics. With Nessim Sibony he constructed a Fatou-Julia theory in two complex variables. He is also known for constructing a counterexample in

several complex variables The theory of functions of several complex variables is the branch of mathematics dealing with functions defined on the complex coordinate space \mathbb C^n, that is, -tuples of complex numbers. The name of the field dealing with the properties ...

in 1976. Fornæss is a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...

. In 2015 he was elected 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, ...

. Fornæss has an Erdős number of 2.

Selected publications

Articles

*with Klas Diederich: *with Klas Diederich:

Books

* with

Berit Stensønes Berit Stensønes (19 February 1956 – 5 June 2022)Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fornaess, John Erik 1946 births Living people 20th-century Norwegian mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians University of Oslo alumni Princeton University faculty University of Michigan faculty Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Fellows of the American Mathematical Society