Hartley Rogers, Jr
Encyclopedia
Hartley Rogers, Jr. is a mathematician who has worked in recursion theory
, and who is currently a professor in the Mathematics Department
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
. The Rogers equivalence theorem is named after him.
Born in 1926 in Buffalo, New York
, he studied under Alonzo Church
at Princeton
, and received his Ph.D. there in 1952. He has served on the MIT faculty since 1956.
There he has been involved in many scholarly extracurricular activities, including running SPUR (Summer Program in Undergraduate Research) for MIT undergraduates, overseeing the mathematics section of RSI (Research Science Institute
) for advanced high school students, and coaching the MIT Putnam exam team for nearly two decades starting in 1990, including the years 2003 and 2004 when MIT won for the first time since 1979. He also runs a seminar called 18.S34: Mathematical Problem Solving for MIT freshmen.
Rogers is known within the MIT undergraduate community also for having developed a multivariable calculus course (18.022: Multivariable Calculus with Theory) with the explicit goal of providing a firm mathematical foundation for the study of physics. In 2005 he announced that he would no longer be teaching the course himself, but it is likely that it will continue to be taught in a similar manner in the future. He is remembered for his witty mathematical comments during lectures as well as his tradition of awarding Leibniz Cookies
and Fig Newton
s to top performers in his class.
Recursion theory
Computability theory, also called recursion theory, is a branch of mathematical logic that originated in the 1930s with the study of computable functions and Turing degrees. The field has grown to include the study of generalized computability and definability...
, and who is currently a professor in the Mathematics Department
MIT Mathematics Department
The Department of Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of the leading mathematics departments in the USAand the world...
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. The Rogers equivalence theorem is named after him.
Born in 1926 in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, he studied under Alonzo Church
Alonzo Church
Alonzo Church was an American mathematician and logician who made major contributions to mathematical logic and the foundations of theoretical computer science. He is best known for the lambda calculus, Church–Turing thesis, Frege–Church ontology, and the Church–Rosser theorem.-Life:Alonzo Church...
at Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, and received his Ph.D. there in 1952. He has served on the MIT faculty since 1956.
There he has been involved in many scholarly extracurricular activities, including running SPUR (Summer Program in Undergraduate Research) for MIT undergraduates, overseeing the mathematics section of RSI (Research Science Institute
Research Science Institute
The Research Science Institute is a highly competitive summer research program for rising high school seniors around the world, sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education and hosted by MIT. It is often regarded as "the most prestigious and competitive high-school science program in the...
) for advanced high school students, and coaching the MIT Putnam exam team for nearly two decades starting in 1990, including the years 2003 and 2004 when MIT won for the first time since 1979. He also runs a seminar called 18.S34: Mathematical Problem Solving for MIT freshmen.
Rogers is known within the MIT undergraduate community also for having developed a multivariable calculus course (18.022: Multivariable Calculus with Theory) with the explicit goal of providing a firm mathematical foundation for the study of physics. In 2005 he announced that he would no longer be teaching the course himself, but it is likely that it will continue to be taught in a similar manner in the future. He is remembered for his witty mathematical comments during lectures as well as his tradition of awarding Leibniz Cookies
Leibniz-Keks
The Leibniz-Keks or Choco Leibniz is a German brand of biscuit, produced by the Bahlsen food company since 1891.- Name :The brand name Leibniz comes from the philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. The only connection between man and biscuit is that Leibniz was one of the more...
and Fig Newton
Fig Newton
The Fig Newton is a Nabisco trademarked version of the ancient fig roll pastry filled with fig paste. Their unusual shape is a characteristic that has been adopted by many competitors including generic fig bars sold by most supermarkets.-History:...
s to top performers in his class.
Quotes
- "That was a horrible misconception...and your misconception is even more horrible."
- "That would be like my saying, 'All unicorns in the Boston Zoo are purple.' That's true even though there are no unicorns in the Boston Zoo, because if you were to find one there, it would be purple." [See vacuous truthVacuous truthA vacuous truth is a truth that is devoid of content because it asserts something about all members of a class that is empty or because it says "If A then B" when in fact A is inherently false. For example, the statement "all cell phones in the room are turned off" may be true...
.]
- "What's incorrect is your wrong idea... Maybe you don't have the wrong idea. Maybe I'm fighting a strong person."
External links
- MIT Mathematics Department website
- Rogers Runs for President, Loses - The Tech article on Rogers' political debacle (see also the picture).
- The Hartley Rogers Fencing Story - A hack (prank) involving masked swordsmen in his classroom
