Hungarian Heritage Review, 1987 (16. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1987-11-01 / 11. szám
Special ^eatttrE‘-(©f-®l)e-,JJÍotitl] United States. Among them, Pal Dienes (1882-1952) went to England and became professor at Birkbeck College. His monograph The Taylor Series; An Introduction to the Theory of Functions of A Complex Variable (New York, 1957) is still widely used and appreciated. John G. Kemeny (b. 1926), president of Dartmouth College, has been active in several fields of mathematical research, namely in mathematical analysis, business mathematics and in investigations into Markov processes. Pal Erdos (b. 1913) completed his studies in Budapest, and since 1934 has lived in Great Britain and the United States. His main fields of interest include the theory of numbers along with the calculus of probabilities, etc. His international distinction is based on more than 500 publications. Since the conclusion of World War II a great number of internationally famed mathematicians have been working in a multiplicity of spheres, classical and applied alike. For example, Pal Turan (b. 1910), professor at Budapest University, is especially versed in the theory of numbers and mathematical analysis. Turan discovered an entirely new method of analysis (Eine neue Methode in der Analysis und deren Anwendungen, 1953) which has been translated into English and Chinese. Following a line of great tradition, many a Hungarian mathematician has extended the work of Frigyes Riesz — foremost among them his one-time closest associate, Bela Szokefalvi-Nagy (b. 1913). Szokefalvi-Nagy was trained by his father, Gyula, also a noted mathematician, and by Frigyes Riesz with whom he collaborated for many years. He has been professor of mathematical analysis at Szeged University since 1948. During 1964 he was guest professor at Columbia University, New York City, and in 1970 at Indiana University. He is a leading world authority on functional and mathematical analysis. Several of his treatises have been published in English, German, French, Russian and Chinese. His first standard work appeared in Berlin in 1942 under the title Spektraldarstellung linearer Transformationen des Hilbertschen Raumes. Szokefalvi-Nagy received an honorary doctorate from the Dresden University of Technical Sciences and from the Turku University, and was elected (foreign) member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. Algebra has played a prominent role in contemporary research. Alfred Renyi (b. 1921) and László Redei (b. 1900) and their associates have achieved international fame in this discipline. Redei’s main fields of investigation embrace many algebraic and geometrical problems, most importantly the theory of numbers. His major work, (Algebra, 1954), was published in English as well as German. In addition to Redei, internationally valued work in geometry has been done by a great many other specialists, among them György Hajos (b. 1912), Otto Varga (b. 1909), László Fejes Toth (b. 1915) and Pal Szász (b. 1901). They rank high and follow the best traditions of Hungarian science as once represented by Bela Kerekjarto (1898-1946) who produced lasting results in the theory of topological groups and in projective geometry. László Fejes Toth was guest professor at Freiburg (1960-1961) and at the University of Wisconsin (USA, 1963-1964). Rozsa Peter (b. 1905) has distinguished herself as a researcher in the foundations of mathematics and has carried on noteworthy investigations into recursive functions. Her Rekursive Funktionen (1951, 1957) has been translated into English (Recursive Functions. 3d rev. ed., 1967), Russian and Chinese. Since 1937 Ms. Peter has been on the editorial boards of The Journal of Symbolic Logic (Princeton, New Jersey) and since 1955 of the Zeitschrift fur mathematische Logik und Grundlagen der Mathematik (issued in East Germany). Her Játék a végtelennel: NOVEMBER 1987 matematika kívülállóknak (Playing with infinity.. .New York: Simon & Shuster, 1961, 1962) has reached a magnitude of 20 editions in 10 languages. László Kalmar (b. 1905) deals chiefly with mathematical logic, cybernetics and several other practical topics of applied mathematics about which he has published several papers at home and abroad. It should also be mentioned that Alfred Renyi with his co-workers has applied with outstanding success the calculus of probabilities and the methods of mathematical statistics to many practical problems. György Polya (b. 1887) obtained his doctorate in mathematics in Budapest then continued his studies at Gottingen and Königsberg. In 1914 as an associate and in 1928 as professor he joined the teaching staff of the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, Switzerland. Since 1940 Polya has lived in the United States, and taught first at Brown then at Stanford universities. Significant results have been produced by Polya in the theory of real and complex functions, probability calculus, and methodology of mathematical problem-solving. His collection of mathematical problems (co-authored by Gabor Szegő) entitled Aufgaben and Lehrsätze aus der Analysis (2 v., 1925, 1959) is considered an indispensable text book. Gabor Szegő (b. 1895) studied at Budapest and Vienna (Austria) universities then taught at Berlin and Königsberg. Since 1934 Szegő has resided in the United States and been on the faculties of Washington and Stanford universities. He pursued important studies in the fields of mathematical analysis and the orthogonal functions. In 1965 Szegő became an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. It is impossible for lack of space to survey in total, however superficially, the activities of those Hungarian mathematicians who have greatly contributed to the history of their science. It is an established fact that noted mathematics professors of Hungarian descent can be found all over the world and especially in the United States. Before closing this chapter we would like to answer one important question as to the future contingent of first-class Hungarian mathematicians. One prediction can safely and easily be made in a very promising direction, and it is underlined by the simple fact that since 1945 the mathematical Olympic games of the high-school students of the Soviet Union and all other European socialist countries has been made a permanent institution in the service of training and directing young mathematicians. It is noteworthy to state that Hungary’s high-school students have won these mathematical contests every single year as individuals as well as team workers. This fact in itself seems to be a guarantee of the past and present achievements in the future of Hungarian mathematics. Bolyai-levelek,Bucharest: Kriterion, 1975. Bonola, Roberto, Non-Euclidean geometry; a critical and historical study of its developments. New York: Dover Publications, 1955. Gauss, Karl Friedrich, Briefwechsel Carl Friedrich Gauss und Wolfgang Bolyai. New York: Johnson Reprint Corp., 1972. Livanova, Anna Mikhailovna, Tri sudby. Moskva: Znanie, 1969. Stackel, Paul Gustav, comp., Wolfgang und Johann Bolyai: geometrische Untersuchungen. New York: Johnson Reprint Corp., 1972. Rados Gusztáv, Kurschak József emlekezete (MTA emlekbeszedek, Budapest, 1934). Jordan, Karoly, Chapters on the classical calculus of probability. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1972. Benedick Jeanne, Mathematics illustrated dictionary; facts, figures, and people including the new math. New York: McGraw Hill, 1965. Herland, Leo Joseph, Dictionary of mathematical sciences. 2d ed., rev. and enlarged. London-Toronto, 1966. Langford, Thomas A., Intellect and hope; essays in the thought of Michael Polanyi. Durham, N.C., 1968. The Universal encyclopedia of mathematics. London: Allen & Unwin, 1964. HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW !
