John Rainwater
Encyclopedia
John Rainwater is the pseudonym of a fictitious mathematician, in whose name mathematicians publish papers. Rainwater has worked mainly in functional analysis
, particularly in the geometric theory of Banach spaces and in convex function
s. in his career over five decades at the University of Washington
(Seattle), whose seminar in functional analysis is called the "Rainwater seminar".
, whose sponsoring society, the Mathematical Association of America, invited him to join. John R. Isbell
published the first paper in Rainwater's name. Other mathematicians have published papers using the name "Rainwater", and acknowledged "Rainwater's assistance" in articles. The seminar on functional analysis
at the University of Washington has been called called the "Rainwater seminar".
had eight citations in papers; its main result is called "Rainwater's theorem" in books on convex function
s and functional analysis
. "There is even one citation to number 13, his unpublished 1967 Rainwater Seminar note on Lindenstrauss spaces," which are named after a construction by Joram Lindenstrauss
. "In summary, it appears that most of John Rainwater's published work has been reasonably well received." While Rainwater is lesser known and younger than Nicolas Bourbaki
(the pseudonym for a collective of leading French mathematicians), he is more senior and has more publications than the combination of research by three other pseudonymous mathematicians—Peter Orno
, M. G. Stanley, and H. C. Enos.
) papers. Irving Glicksberg wrote the fourth and eighth papers. Edgar Asplund wrote the seventh. "Paper 14 is a departure for John Rainwater. Not only is it in algebra, but he doesn't thank anyone for helpful conversations. He notes, however, that his work was supported by four different grants. (Culprits this time were Ken Brown, Ken Goodearl, Toby Stafford and Bob Warfield
.)" John Rainwater's c.v. lists an incomplete collection of problems or solutions that he contributed to the American Mathematical Monthly
, the earliest in 1959 (by John Isbell).
Functional analysis
Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure and the linear operators acting upon these spaces and respecting these structures in a suitable sense...
, particularly in the geometric theory of Banach spaces and in convex function
Convex function
In mathematics, a real-valued function f defined on an interval is called convex if the graph of the function lies below the line segment joining any two points of the graph. Equivalently, a function is convex if its epigraph is a convex set...
s. in his career over five decades at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
(Seattle), whose seminar in functional analysis is called the "Rainwater seminar".
Creation
Rainwater was invented by graduate students at the University of Washington in 1952, when students used an extra registration-form to enroll Rainwater in a course on real functions. Students submitted homework for Rainwater throughout the semester, until the Professor picked up a fountain pen with Rainwater's name, which exploded!Research
Early on, Rainwater distinguished himself by solving problems in the American Mathematical MonthlyAmerican Mathematical Monthly
The American Mathematical Monthly is a mathematical journal founded by Benjamin Finkel in 1894. It is currently published 10 times each year by the Mathematical Association of America....
, whose sponsoring society, the Mathematical Association of America, invited him to join. John R. Isbell
John R. Isbell
John Rolfe Isbell was an American mathematician, for many years a professor of mathematics at the University of Buffalo .-Biography:...
published the first paper in Rainwater's name. Other mathematicians have published papers using the name "Rainwater", and acknowledged "Rainwater's assistance" in articles. The seminar on functional analysis
Functional analysis
Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure and the linear operators acting upon these spaces and respecting these structures in a suitable sense...
at the University of Washington has been called called the "Rainwater seminar".
Evaluation
In 2002, Robert Phelps summarized the impact of Rainwater's research: His first paper (by Isbell) was in topology and has 19 citations. While only one-page, Rainwater's note in the 1963 Proceedings of the American Mathematical SocietyProceedings of the American Mathematical Society
Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society is a monthly mathematics journal published by the American Mathematical Society. As a requirement, all articles must be at most 15 printed pages....
had eight citations in papers; its main result is called "Rainwater's theorem" in books on convex function
Convex function
In mathematics, a real-valued function f defined on an interval is called convex if the graph of the function lies below the line segment joining any two points of the graph. Equivalently, a function is convex if its epigraph is a convex set...
s and functional analysis
Functional analysis
Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure and the linear operators acting upon these spaces and respecting these structures in a suitable sense...
. "There is even one citation to number 13, his unpublished 1967 Rainwater Seminar note on Lindenstrauss spaces," which are named after a construction by Joram Lindenstrauss
Joram Lindenstrauss
Joram Lindenstrauss is an Israeli mathematician working in functional analysis. He is professor emeritus of mathematics at the Einstein Institute of Mathematics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.-Biography:...
. "In summary, it appears that most of John Rainwater's published work has been reasonably well received." While Rainwater is lesser known and younger than Nicolas Bourbaki
Nicolas Bourbaki
Nicolas Bourbaki is the collective pseudonym under which a group of 20th-century mathematicians wrote a series of books presenting an exposition of modern advanced mathematics, beginning in 1935. With the goal of founding all of mathematics on set theory, the group strove for rigour and generality...
(the pseudonym for a collective of leading French mathematicians), he is more senior and has more publications than the combination of research by three other pseudonymous mathematicians—Peter Orno
Peter Orno
According to Mathematical Reviews , this paper proves the following theorem, which has come to be known as "Orno's theorem": Suppose that E and F are Banach lattices, where F is an infinite-dimensional vector space that contains no Riesz subspace that is uniformly isomorphic to the sequence space...
, M. G. Stanley, and H. C. Enos.
Mathematicians publishing as Rainwater
Many internationally renowned mathematicians have published under the name of John Rainwater. John Isbell wrote Rainwater's first, second, and tenth papers; by 2002, Isbell had also written or coauthored six other pseudonymous papers under two other names. Functional analyst Robert R. Phelps wrote the third, ninth, eleventh (an unpublished note for the Rainwater seminar), twelfth, and thirteenth (with Peter D. Morris), fifteenth (with Isaac Namioka), and sixteenth (with David PreissDavid Preiss
David Preiss is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick and the winner of the 2008 LMS Pólya Prize for his 1987 result on Geometry of Measures, where he solved the remaining problem in the geometric theoretic structure of sets and measures in Euclidean space.David Preiss is...
) papers. Irving Glicksberg wrote the fourth and eighth papers. Edgar Asplund wrote the seventh. "Paper 14 is a departure for John Rainwater. Not only is it in algebra, but he doesn't thank anyone for helpful conversations. He notes, however, that his work was supported by four different grants. (Culprits this time were Ken Brown, Ken Goodearl, Toby Stafford and Bob Warfield
Bob Warfield
Bob Warfield is the CEO, Chairman, and Founder of SmoothSpan, a company still in stealth mode that is "focused on inventing a post-SaaS business model." A member of the original Quattro Pro developer team, Warfield later became Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Borland...
.)" John Rainwater's c.v. lists an incomplete collection of problems or solutions that he contributed to the American Mathematical Monthly
American Mathematical Monthly
The American Mathematical Monthly is a mathematical journal founded by Benjamin Finkel in 1894. It is currently published 10 times each year by the Mathematical Association of America....
, the earliest in 1959 (by John Isbell).