Mark Kac

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Mark Kac
Daniel Stroock

Mark Kac (

Polish American mathematician. His main interest was probability theory. His question, "Can one hear the shape of a drum?" set off research into spectral theory, the idea of understanding the extent to which the spectrum
allows one to read back the geometry. In the end, the answer was generally "no".

Early life and education

He was born to a

Peace of Riga, when Kac was a child.[1]

Kac completed his Ph.D. in mathematics at the Polish

University of Lwów in 1937 under the direction of Hugo Steinhaus.[2] While there, he was a member of the Lwów School of Mathematics
.

After receiving his degree, he began to look for a position abroad, and in 1938 was granted a scholarship from the Parnas Foundation, which enabled him to go work in the United States. He arrived in New York City in November 1938.[3]

With the onset of

mass executions in August 1942.[3]

Career

Cornell University

From 1939 to 1961, Kac taught at Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York, where he was first an instructor. In 1943, he was appointed an assistant professor, and he became a full professor in 1947.[4]

While a professor at Cornell, he became a

naturalized US citizen in 1943. From 1943 to 1945, he also worked with George Uhlenbeck at the MIT Radiation Laboratory.[3] During the 1951–1952 academic year, Kac was on sabbatical at the Institute for Advanced Study.[5]

In 1952, Kac, with

ferromagnet, a variant of the Ising model,[6] and, with J. C. Ward, found an exact solution of the Ising model using a combinatorial method.[7]

In 1956, he introduced a simplified mathematical model known as the Kac ring, which features the emergence of macroscopic irreversibility from completely time-symmetric microscopic laws. Using the model as an analogy to molecular motion, he provided an explanation for Loschmidt's paradox.[8]

Rockefeller University

In 1961, Kac left Cornell and went to

The Rockefeller University in New York City
.

He worked with George Uhlenbeck and P. C. Hemmer on the mathematics of a van der Waals gas.[9] After twenty years at Rockefeller, he moved to the University of Southern California where he spent the rest of his career.

In his 1966 article, "

eigenfrequencies
.

Human rights

Kac was the co-chair of the Committee of Concerned Scientists.[10] He co-authored a letter, which publicized the case of the scientist Vladimir Samuilovich Kislik[11] and a letter which publicized the case of the applied mathematician Yosif Begun.[12]

Awards and honors

Books

References

  1. ^ Obituary in Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, 11 November 1984
  2. ^ Mark Kac at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-06-015433-0
    .
  4. ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Mark Kac", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
  5. ^ Kac, Mark, Community of Scholars Profile, IAS Archived 2013-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
  6. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.86.821
    .
  7. doi:10.1103/physrev.88.1332
    .
  8. ^ Thompson, Colin J (1986). "The contributions of Mark Kac to mathematical physics". The Annals of Probability. 14: 1129–1138.
  9. doi:10.1063/1.2814542. Archived from the original
    on 2013-09-30.
  10. ^ Benguria, Rafael (July 2014). "The centenary of Mark Kac (1914–1984)" (PDF). IAMP News Bulletin: 5–18. (See pages 14–15.)
  11. doi:10.1063/1.2913884
    .
  12. S2CID 239881402
    .
  13. JSTOR 2304386
    .
  14. ^ "Mark Kac". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  15. ^ "Mark Kac". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  16. JSTOR 2313748
    .
  17. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  18. doi:10.1086/350456
    .
  19. doi:10.1090/S0002-9904-1960-10459-4
    .
  20. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1960-10500-9
    .
  21. doi:10.1090/s0273-0979-1987-15563-7
    .

External links

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