Robert P. Dilworth
Encyclopedia
Robert Palmer Dilworth was an American mathematician
. His primary research area was lattice theory; his biography at the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
states "it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was one of the main factors in the subject moving from being merely a tool of other disciplines to an important subject in its own right". He is best known for Dilworth's theorem
relating chains and antichains in partial orders; he was also the first to study antimatroid
s . Dilworth advised 17 Ph.D. students and has 373 academic descendants listed at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
, many through his student Juris Hartmanis
, a noted complexity theorist
.
Dilworth was born in 1914 in Hemet, California
, at that time a remote desert ranching town. He went to college at the California Institute of Technology
, receiving his baccalaureate in 1936 and continuing there for his graduate studies. Dilworth's graduate advisor was Morgan Ward
, a student of Eric Temple Bell
, who was also on the Caltech faculty at the time. On receiving his Ph.D. in 1939, Dilworth took an instructorship at Yale University
. While at Yale, he met and married his wife, Miriam White, with whom he eventually had two sons. He returned to Caltech as a faculty member in 1943, and spent the remainder of his academic career there.
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. His primary research area was lattice theory; his biography at the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive is a website maintained by John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson and hosted by the University of St Andrews in Scotland...
states "it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was one of the main factors in the subject moving from being merely a tool of other disciplines to an important subject in its own right". He is best known for Dilworth's theorem
Dilworth's theorem
In mathematics, in the areas of order theory and combinatorics, Dilworth's theorem characterizes the width of any finite partially ordered set in terms of a partition of the order into a minimum number of chains...
relating chains and antichains in partial orders; he was also the first to study antimatroid
Antimatroid
In mathematics, an antimatroid is a formal system that describes processes in which a set is built up by including elements one at a time, and in which an element, once available for inclusion, remains available until it is included...
s . Dilworth advised 17 Ph.D. students and has 373 academic descendants listed at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
Mathematics Genealogy Project
The Mathematics Genealogy Project is a web-based database for the academic genealogy of mathematicians. As of September, 2010, it contained information on approximately 145,000 mathematical scientists who contribute to "research-level mathematics"...
, many through his student Juris Hartmanis
Juris Hartmanis
Juris Hartmanis is a prominent computer scientist and computational theorist who, with Richard E. Stearns, received the 1993 ACM Turing Award "in recognition of their seminal paper which established the foundations for the field of computational complexity theory".Hartmanis was born in Latvia...
, a noted complexity theorist
Computational complexity theory
Computational complexity theory is a branch of the theory of computation in theoretical computer science and mathematics that focuses on classifying computational problems according to their inherent difficulty, and relating those classes to each other...
.
Dilworth was born in 1914 in Hemet, California
Hemet, California
Hemet is a city in the San Jacinto Valley in Riverside County, California, United States. It covers a total area of , about half of the valley, which it shares with the neighboring city of San Jacinto. The population was 78,657 at the 2010 census....
, at that time a remote desert ranching town. He went to college at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, receiving his baccalaureate in 1936 and continuing there for his graduate studies. Dilworth's graduate advisor was Morgan Ward
Morgan Ward
Morgan Ward was an American mathematician, a professor of mathematics at the California Institute of Technology.Ward received his Ph.D. from Caltech in 1928, with a dissertation entitled The Foundations of General Arithmetic; his advisor was Eric Temple Bell...
, a student of Eric Temple Bell
Eric Temple Bell
Eric Temple Bell , was a mathematician and science fiction author born in Scotland who lived in the U.S. for most of his life...
, who was also on the Caltech faculty at the time. On receiving his Ph.D. in 1939, Dilworth took an instructorship at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. While at Yale, he met and married his wife, Miriam White, with whom he eventually had two sons. He returned to Caltech as a faculty member in 1943, and spent the remainder of his academic career there.