Person: Kac, Mark

Mark Kac pioneered the modern development of mathematical probability, in particular its applications to statistical physics.

Kac studied Latin and Greek at school as well as mathematics, physics and chemistry.
Kac entered the Jan Kasimir University of Lwów where he was taught by Steinhaus.
Kac then tried to go to the United States, helped by Steinhaus who was not only his teacher but also by this time his friend.
While attempting to go to the United States, Kac worked for an insurance company in Lwów.
Kac did not give up, however, and the following year he applied again, and this time he was successful.
Certainly Kac was fortunate to have been able to leave Poland at that time.
Kac served at Cornell as an instructor from 1939 to 1943 (the year he became a US citizen), assistant professor from 1943 to 1947 when he was promoted to full professor.
When Kac left Cornell in 1961 he went to Rockefeller University, in New York City.
Kac has pioneered the modern development of mathematical probability, in particular its applications to statistical physics.
The method of quantization now in use involves the Feynman-Kac path integral, named after Richard Feynman and Mark Kac.
To many Kac will be remembered best for a paper he wrote for the American Mathematical Monthly in 1966.
In addition to the Chauvenet Prize (which in fact he won on two separate occasions), Kac was awarded the George David Birkhoff Prize in Applied Mathematics in 1978.

Born 3 August 1914, Krzemieniec, Poland, Russian Empire, (now Ukraine). Died 26 October 1984, California, USA.

View full biography at MacTutor

Origin Ukraine

Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0!

O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive