Person: Kadison, Richard
Richard Kadison was an American mathematician who contributed to the study of operator algebras.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- His parents were David Edward Kadison (29 May 1895 - 26 August 1974) and Rae Siegel (23 April 1900 - 27 August 1988).
- David Kadison had been born in New York to parents Jacob L and Sophie Kadushin.
- David Kadison had changed the spelling of his name from Kadushin to Kadison before his marriage; he was still David Kadushin in the 1920 census.
- Richard Kadison attended the Bronx High School of Science, graduating in 1942.
- Not only did Kadison excel with his mathematical studies, but he also was a remarkable gymnast, being a member of the University of Chicago gymnastic team.
- Kadison graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1950 after writing his 108-page thesis A Unified Representation Theory for Topological Algebra.
- Two of the 1951 papers are joint works by Kadison and Bent Fuglede who, after graduating with a D.Phil.
- Kadison was appointed assistant professor at Columbia University, New York, in 1952.
- Lars Kadison went on to become a mathematician being awarded a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989 for his thesis Cyclic Homology of Extension Algebras with Application to Matrix Algebras, Algebraic K-Theory and Nest Algebras of Operators.
- An important aspect of Kadison's work at Columbia was the Ph.D. students he attracted and advised.
- We should make special mention of Richard Kenneth Lashof (Topological Group Extensions and Lie Algebras of Locally Compact Groups, 1954); James G Glimm (On a Certain Class of Operator Algebras, 1959); Marc Aristide Rieffel (A Characterization of Commutative Group Algebras and Measure Algebras, 1963); Erling Størmer (Point Measures in the Two-Sided Non-Commutative Integration Theory, 1963); and Laurence Terrell Gardner, Jr. (On Isomorphisms of C*-Algebras, 1964).
- Kadison left Columbia University in 1964 to take up the Gustave C Kuemmerle chair of mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania.
- Professor Kadison, 38, is a leading expert in the field of functional analysis.
- Professor Ellis R Kolchin, chairman of the department, expressed some surprise at Professor Kadison's decision to leave.
- Indeed, Provost Goddard gave up his own chair (the Gustave C Kuemmerle Chair) to help attract Kadison to Penn.
- Along with John Ringrose, Kadison published the two volume book Fundamentals of the Theory of Operator Algebras with volume 1, subtitled Elementary Theory, appearing in 1983 and volume 2, subtitled Advanced Theory, appearing in 1986.
- Over his career, Kadison attended many conferences and published in the conference proceedings.
- Kadison received many honours for his outstanding contributions.
- Not only was Kadison a member of the National Academy of Sciences but he was also a strong supporter.
- In 1999 Kadison was awarded the Leroy P Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement by the American Mathematical Society.
- For almost half a century, Dick Kadison has been one of the world leaders in the subject of operator algebras, and the tremendous flourishing of this subject in the last thirty years is largely due to his efforts.
- And in mathematical exposition, Kadison's papers and his two-volume monograph with John Ringrose, 'Fundamentals of the Theory of Operator Algebras' (originally published by Academic Press, now reprinted by the AMS), have been models of clarity and precision.
- On Saturday 10 January 2015, as part of their winter meeting, the American Mathematical Society held a 'Special Session on Operator Algebras and Their Applications: A Tribute to Richard V Kadison'.
- Kadison died in August 2018 after a short illness.
- The University of Pennsylvania is organising a memorial conference, 'Operator Algebras in the 21st Century; Richard V Kadison Memorial Conference - 30-31 March 2019'.
- At the centre of this research effort and the very distinguished group of mathematicians who pursued it was Richard V Kadison.
Born 25 July 1925, New York City, New York, USA. Died 22 August 2018, Narberth, Pennsylvania, USA.
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References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
