Martin David Kruskal

Martin Kruskal
Born
Martin David Kruskal

(1925-09-28)September 28, 1925
New York City, New York, US
DiedDecember 26, 2006(2006-12-26) (aged 81)
Princeton, New Jersey, US
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma mater
Known for
Kruskal–Szekeres coordinates
Kruskal–Shafranov instability
Bernstein–Greene–Kruskal modes
Kruskal–Schwarzchild instability
Theory of solitons
Kruskal count
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsMathematical physics
Institutions
Doctoral advisorRichard Courant
Doctoral students

Martin David Kruskal (/ˈkrʌskəl/; September 28, 1925 – December 26, 2006)[1] was an American mathematician and physicist. He made fundamental contributions in many areas of mathematics and science, ranging from plasma physics to general relativity and from nonlinear analysis to asymptotic analysis. His most celebrated contribution was in the theory of solitons.[4]

He was a student at the University of Chicago and at New York University, where he completed his Ph.D. under Richard Courant in 1952. He spent much of his career at Princeton University, as a research scientist at the Plasma Physics Laboratory starting in 1951, and then as a professor of astronomy (1961), founder and chair of the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics (1968), and professor of mathematics (1979). He retired from Princeton University in 1989 and joined the mathematics department of Rutgers University, holding the David Hilbert Chair of Mathematics.

Apart from serious mathematical work, Kruskal was known for mathematical diversions. For example, he invented the Kruskal count, a magical effect that has been known to perplex professional magicians because it was based not on sleight of hand but on a mathematical phenomenon.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Gibbon-Cowley_Joshi-MacCallum_2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference RS_2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Martin David Kruskal at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  4. ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Martin David Kruskal", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews