| Joseph Wedderburn | |
 Joseph Henry Maclagan Wedderburn (1882-1948)
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| Born | February 2, 1882 Forfar, Angus, Scotland |
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| Died | October 9, 1948 (aged 66) Princeton, New Jersey, USA |
| Residence |  USA |
| Citizenship | American |
| Nationality |  Scottish |
| Fields | Mathematician |
| Institutions | Princeton University |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Doctoral advisor | George Chrystal |
| Doctoral students | Merrill Flood Nathan Jacobson Ernst Snapper |
| Known for | Wedderburn-Etherington number Artin–Wedderburn theorem |
| Notable awards | MacDougall-Brisbane Gold Medal |
Joseph Henry Maclagan Wedderburn (2 February 1882 Forfar, Angus, Scotland – 9 October 1948, Princeton, New Jersey) was a Scottish mathematician, who taught at Princeton University for most of his career. Events 962 - Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor Year 1882 ( MDCCCLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Forfar is a town and former Royal burgh of approximately 13500 people located in the Unitary authority of Angus in Scotland. Angus ( Aonghas in Gaelic) is one of the 32 local government Council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Events 768 - Carloman I and Charlemagne are crowned Kings of The Franks. Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. See also Princeton Township New Jersey, Borough of Princeton New Jersey Princeton Borough New Jersey Princeton Township New Jersey this The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of Mathematics. Princeton University is a private Coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. Alma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother" It was used in Ancient Rome as a title for the mother Goddess, and in Medieval The University of Edinburgh (Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann founded in 1582 is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. A doctorate is an Academic degree that indicates the highest level of academic achievement George Chrystal (1851 &ndash 1911 was a Scottish mathematician Merrill Meeks Flood (1912 (? is an American Mathematician, notable for developing with Melvin Dresher, the basis of the game theoretical Prisoner's Nathan Jacobson ( October 5, 1910 - December 5 1999) was an American Mathematician. In Graph theory, the Wedderburn-Etherington numbers count how many weakly Binary trees can be constructed that is the number of trees for which each graph vertex In Abstract algebra, the Artin–Wedderburn theorem is a Classification theorem for semisimple rings. Events 962 - Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor Year 1882 ( MDCCCLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Angus ( Aonghas in Gaelic) is one of the 32 local government Council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Events 768 - Carloman I and Charlemagne are crowned Kings of The Franks. Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. See also Princeton Township New Jersey, Borough of Princeton New Jersey Princeton Borough New Jersey Princeton Township New Jersey this Princeton University is a private Coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. A significant algebraist, he proved that a finite division algebra is a field, and part of the Artin-Wedderburn theorem on simple algebras. Abstract algebra is the subject area of Mathematics that studies Algebraic structures such as groups, rings, fields, modules In the field of Mathematics called Abstract algebra, a division algebra is roughly speaking an Algebra over a field in which division is possible In Abstract algebra, a field is an Algebraic structure in which the operations of Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and division In Abstract algebra, the Artin–Wedderburn theorem is a Classification theorem for semisimple rings. In Mathematics, specifically in Ring theory, an algebra is simple if it contains no non-trivial two-sided ideals and the set { He also worked on group theory and matrix algebra. Group theory is a mathematical discipline the part of Abstract algebra that studies the Algebraic structures known as groups.
Contents |
Life
Joseph Wedderburn was the tenth of 14 children of Alexander Wedderburn, a physician, and Anne Ogilvie. In 1898, he entered the University of Edinburgh. The University of Edinburgh (Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann founded in 1582 is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. In 1903, he published his first three papers, worked as an assistant in the Physical Laboratory of the University, and obtained an M. A. degree with First Class Honours in mathematics. The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for Undergraduate degrees ( Bachelor's degrees and some Master's degrees
He then studied briefly at the University of Leipzig and the University of Berlin, where he met the algebraists Frobenius and Schur. The University of Leipzig (Universität Leipzig located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities Ferdinand Georg Frobenius ( October 26, 1849 – August 3, 1917) was a German Mathematician, best-known for his contributions Issai Schur ( January 10, 1875 in Mogilyov &ndash January 10, 1941 in Tel Aviv) was a Mathematician who A Carnegie Scholarship allowed him to spend the 1904-1905 academic year at the University of Chicago where he worked with Oswald Veblen, E. H. Moore, and most importantly, Leonard Dickson, who was to become the most important American algebraist of his day. The University of Chicago is a Private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. Oswald Veblen ( 24 June 1880 in Decorah Iowa &ndash 10 August, 1960) was an American Mathematician, Eliakim Hastings Moore ( January 26, 1862, Marietta, Ohio – December 30, 1932, Chicago, Illinois Leonard Eugene Dickson ( 22 January[[ 874]] Independence Iowa – 17 January[[ 954]] Harlingen Texas) (often called L
Returning to Scotland in 1905, Wedderburn worked for four years at the University of Edinburgh as an assistant to George Chrystal, who supervised his D. The University of Edinburgh (Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann founded in 1582 is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. George Chrystal (1851 &ndash 1911 was a Scottish mathematician Sc, awarded in 1908 for a thesis titled On Hypercomplex Numbers. From 1906 to 1908, Wedderburn edited the Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society. In 1909, he returned to the United States to become a Preceptor in Mathematics at Princeton University; his colleagues included Luther P. Eisenhart, Oswald Veblen, Gilbert Ames Bliss, and George Birkhoff. Princeton University is a private Coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. Luther Pfahler Eisenhart ( 13 January 1876 &ndash 28 October 1965) was an American Mathematician, best known today for Oswald Veblen ( 24 June 1880 in Decorah Iowa &ndash 10 August, 1960) was an American Mathematician, Gilbert Ames Bliss, ( 9 May 1876, Chicago – 8 May 1951, Harvey Illinois) was an American mathematician known George David Birkhoff ( 21 March 1884, Overisel Michigan - 12 November 1944, Cambridge Massachusetts) was an American
Upon the outbreak of the First World War, Wedderburn enlisted in the British Army as a private. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All He was the first person at Princeton to volunteer for that war, and had the longest war service of anyone on the staff. While a Captain in the Fourth Field Survey Battalion in France, he devised sound-ranging equipment to locate enemy artillery.
He returned to Princeton after the war, becoming Associate Professor in 1921 and editing the Annals of Mathematics until 1928. The Annals of Mathematics (ISSN 0003-486X abbreviated as Ann of Math While at Princeton, he supervised only three Ph. Ds, one of them being Nathan Jacobson. Nathan Jacobson ( October 5, 1910 - December 5 1999) was an American Mathematician. In his later years, Wedderburn became an increasingly solitary figure and may even have suffered from depression. His isolation after his 1945 early retirement was such that his death from a heart attack was not noticed for several days. His Nachlass was destroyed, as per his instructions.
Wedderburn received the MacDougall-Brisbane Gold Medal and Prize from the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1921, and was elected to the Royal Society of London in 1933.
As to why Wedderburn never married:
- "It seems that an old Scottish tradition required that a man, before marrying, accumulate savings equal to a certain percentage of his annual income. In Wedderburn's case his income had gone up so rapidly that he had never been able to accomplish this. " (Hooke 1984)
Work
In all, Wedderburn published about 40 books and papers, making important advances in the theory of rings, algebras and matrix theory.
In 1905, Wedderburn published a paper that included three claimed proofs of a theorem stating that a noncommutative finite field could not exist. In Abstract algebra, a finite field or Galois field (so named in honor of Évariste Galois) is a field that contains only finitely many elements The proofs all made clever use of the interplay between the additive group of a finite division algebra A, and the multiplicative group A* = A-{0}. In Mathematics, an additive group may be an Abelian group, when it is written using the symbol + for its Binary operation In the field of Mathematics called Abstract algebra, a division algebra is roughly speaking an Algebra over a field in which division is possible In Mathematics and Group theory the term multiplicative group refers to one of the following concepts depending on the context any group \scriptstyle\mathfrak Parshall (1983) notes that the first of these three proofs had a gap not noticed at the time. Meanwhile, Wedderburn's Chicago colleague Dickson also found a proof of this result but, believing Wedderburn's first proof to be correct, Dickson acknowledged Wedderburn's priority. But Dickson also noted that Wedderburn constructed his second and third proofs only after having seen Dickson's proof. Parshall concludes that Dickson should be credited with the first correct proof.
A corollary to this theorem yields the complete structure of all finite projective geometry. Projective geometry is a non- metrical form of Geometry, notable for its principle of duality. In their paper on "Non-Desarguesian and non-Pascalian geometries" in the 1907 Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, Wedderburn and Veblen showed that in these geometries, Pascal's theorem is a consequence of Desargues' theorem. Transactions of the American Mathematical Society is a monthly mathematics journal published by the American Mathematical Society. Oswald Veblen ( 24 June 1880 in Decorah Iowa &ndash 10 August, 1960) was an American Mathematician, In Projective geometry, Pascal's theorem (aka Hexagrammum Mysticum Theorem) states that if an arbitrary Hexagon is inscribed in any Conic section In Projective geometry, Desargues' theorem, named in honor of Gérard Desargues, states In a Projective space, two Triangles They did so by constructing finite projective geometries which are neither "Desarguesian" nor "Pascalian" (the terminology is Hilbert's).
Wedderburn's best-known paper was his sole-authored "On hypercomplex numbers," published in the 1907 Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, and for which he was awarded the D. The London Mathematical Society ( LMS) is the leading mathematical society in England. Sc. the following year. This paper gives a complete classification of simple and semisimple algebras. In Mathematics, specifically in Ring theory, an algebra is simple if it contains no non-trivial two-sided ideals and the set { In Ring theory, a semisimple algebra is an Associative algebra which has trivial Jacobson radical (that is only the zero element of the algebra is in the He then showed that every semisimple algebra can be constructed as a direct sum of simple algebras and that every simple algebra is isomorphic to a matrix algebra for some division ring. In Ring theory, a semisimple algebra is an Associative algebra which has trivial Jacobson radical (that is only the zero element of the algebra is in the In Mathematics, specifically in Ring theory, an algebra is simple if it contains no non-trivial two-sided ideals and the set { In Mathematics, specifically in Ring theory, an algebra is simple if it contains no non-trivial two-sided ideals and the set { In Abstract algebra, an isomorphism ( Greek: ἴσος isos "equal" and μορφή morphe "shape" is a bijective In Abstract algebra, a division ring, also called a skew field, is a ring in which division is possible The Artin-Wedderburn theorem generalizes this result. In Abstract algebra, the Artin–Wedderburn theorem is a Classification theorem for semisimple rings.
His best known book is his Lectures on Matrices (1934), which Nathan Jacobson praised as follows:
- "That this was the result of a number of years of painstaking labour is evidenced by the bibliography of 661 items (in the revised printing) covering the period 1853 to 1936. The work is, however, not a compilation of the literature, but a synthesis that is Wedderburn's own. It contains a number of original contributions to the subject. " (Nathan Jacobson, quoted in Taylor 1949)
About Wedderburn's teaching:
- "He was apparently a very shy man and much preferred looking at the blackboard to looking at the students. He had the galley proofs from his book "Lectures on Matrices" pasted to cardboard for durability, and his "lecturing" consisted of reading this out loud while simultaneously copying it onto the blackboard. " (Hooke 1984)
See also
References
- Hooke, Robert, 1984, "- Recollections of Princeton, 1939–1941."
- Parshall, K. In Graph theory, the Wedderburn-Etherington numbers count how many weakly Binary trees can be constructed that is the number of trees for which each graph vertex In Abstract algebra, the Artin–Wedderburn theorem is a Classification theorem for semisimple rings. H. , 1983, "In pursuit of the finite division algebra theorem and beyond: Joseph H M Wedderburn, Leonard Dickson, and Oswald Veblen," Archives of International History of Science 33: 274–99. Leonard Eugene Dickson ( 22 January[[ 874]] Independence Iowa – 17 January[[ 954]] Harlingen Texas) (often called L Oswald Veblen ( 24 June 1880 in Decorah Iowa &ndash 10 August, 1960) was an American Mathematician,
- Taylor, H. S. , 1949, "Obituary: Joseph Henry Maclagen Wedderburn (1882–1948)," Obituary Notices of the Royal Society of London 6: 619–25.
External links
- O'Connor, John J. & Robertson, Edmund F. , “Joseph Wedderburn”, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive. The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive is an award-winning website maintained by John J The source for much of this entry.
- Joseph Wedderburn at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
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