Antoni Zygmund
Encyclopedia
Antoni Zygmund was a Polish
-born American
mathematician.
, Zygmund obtained his PhD from Warsaw University (1923) and became a professor at Stefan Batory University at Wilno (1930–39). In 1940, during the World War II
occupation of Poland, he emigrated to the United States
and became a professor at Mount Holyoke College
in South Hadley. From 1945 until 1947 he was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania
, and from 1947 at the University of Chicago
.
He was a member of several scientific societies. From 1930 until 1952 he was a member of the Polish Society of Friends of Science
(TNW), from 1946 a member of the Polish Academy of Learning
(PAU), from 1959 a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences
(PAN), and from 1961 a member of the National Academy of Science in Washington, D.C.
. In 1986 he received the National Medal of Science
.
His main interest was harmonic analysis
. He wrote a standard two-volume work Trigonometric Series. His students included Alberto Calderón
, Paul Cohen
, Nathan Fine
, Józef Marcinkiewicz
, Victor L. Shapiro, and Elias Stein
. He died in Chicago
.
His work has had a pervasive influence in many fields of mathematics, particularly in mathematical analysis
. He wrote over 6 books. Perhaps most important was his work with Calderón on singular integral operators.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mathematician.
Life
Born in WarsawWarsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Zygmund obtained his PhD from Warsaw University (1923) and became a professor at Stefan Batory University at Wilno (1930–39). In 1940, during the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
occupation of Poland, he emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and became a professor at Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...
in South Hadley. From 1945 until 1947 he was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, and from 1947 at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
.
He was a member of several scientific societies. From 1930 until 1952 he was a member of the Polish Society of Friends of Science
Society of Friends of Science
The Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning was one of the earliest Polish scientific societies, active in Warsaw from 1800 to 1832.-Name:The Society was also known as Warszawskie Królewskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk...
(TNW), from 1946 a member of the Polish Academy of Learning
Polish Academy of Learning
The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning , headquartered in Kraków, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of sciences....
(PAU), from 1959 a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Polish Academy of Sciences
The Polish Academy of Sciences, headquartered in Warsaw, is one of two Polish institutions having the nature of an academy of sciences.-History:...
(PAN), and from 1961 a member of the National Academy of Science in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. In 1986 he received the National Medal of Science
National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...
.
His main interest was harmonic analysis
Harmonic analysis
Harmonic analysis is the branch of mathematics that studies the representation of functions or signals as the superposition of basic waves. It investigates and generalizes the notions of Fourier series and Fourier transforms...
. He wrote a standard two-volume work Trigonometric Series. His students included Alberto Calderón
Alberto Calderón
Alberto Pedro Calderón was an Argentine mathematician best known for his work on the theory of partial differential equations and singular integral operators, and widely considered as one of the 20th century's most important mathematicians...
, Paul Cohen
Paul Cohen (mathematician)
Paul Joseph Cohen was an American mathematician best known for his proof of the independence of the continuum hypothesis and the axiom of choice from Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, the most widely accepted axiomatization of set theory.-Early years:Cohen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, into a...
, Nathan Fine
Nathan Fine
Nathan Jacob Fine was a mathematician who worked on basic hypergeometric series. He is best known for his lecture notes on the subject which for four decades served as an inspiration to experts in the field until they were finally published as a book...
, Józef Marcinkiewicz
Józef Marcinkiewicz
Józef Marcinkiewicz – died in 1940 in Kharkiv, Ukraine) was a Polish mathematician.He was a student of Antoni Zygmund; and later worked with Juliusz Schauder, and Stefan Kaczmarz. He was a professor of the Stefan Batory University in Wilno....
, Victor L. Shapiro, and Elias Stein
Elias M. Stein
Elias Menachem Stein is a mathematician and a leading figure in the field of harmonic analysis. He is the Albert Baldwin Dod Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University.-Biography:...
. He died in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
His work has had a pervasive influence in many fields of mathematics, particularly in mathematical analysis
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical analysis, which mathematicians refer to simply as analysis, has its beginnings in the rigorous formulation of infinitesimal calculus. It is a branch of pure mathematics that includes the theories of differentiation, integration and measure, limits, infinite series, and analytic functions...
. He wrote over 6 books. Perhaps most important was his work with Calderón on singular integral operators.
See also
- Marcinkiewicz–Zygmund inequalityMarcinkiewicz–Zygmund inequalityIn mathematics, the Marcinkiewicz–Zygmund inequality, named after Józef Marcinkiewicz and Antoni Zygmund, gives relations between moments of a collection of independent random variables...
- Paley–Zygmund inequalityPaley–Zygmund inequalityIn mathematics, the Paley–Zygmund inequality bounds theprobability that a positive random variable is small, in terms ofits mean and variance...
- List of Poles