Victor LaRue Klee, Jr.(September 18, 1925 – August 17, 2007) was amathematicianspecialising inconvex sets,functional analysis,analysis of algorithms,optimization,andcombinatorics.He spent almost his entire career at theUniversity of WashingtoninSeattle.
Victor Klee | |
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| Born | September 18, 1925 |
| Died | August 17, 2007(aged 81) Lakewood, Ohio,U.S. |
| Education | Pomona College University of Virginia(Ph.D.) |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Washington |
| Thesis | Convex Sets in Linear Spaces(1949) |
| Doctoral advisor | Edward James McShane |
| Doctoral students | Bernd Sturmfels Robert Phelps |
Life
editBorn inSan Francisco,Vic Klee earned hisB.A.degree in 1945 with high honors fromPomona College,majoring in mathematics and chemistry. He did his graduate studies, including a thesis on Convex Sets in Linear Spaces, and received hisPhDin mathematics from theUniversity of Virginiain 1949. After teaching for several years at the University of Virginia, he moved in 1953 to theUniversity of WashingtoninSeattle, Washington,where he was a faculty member for 54 years.[1] He died inLakewood, Ohio.
Research
editKlee wrote more than 240 research papers. He proposedKlee's measure problemand theart gallery problem.Kleetopesare also named after him, as is theKlee–Minty cube,[2]which shows that thesimplex algorithmforlinear programmingdoes not work inpolynomial timein the worst–case scenario.
Service and recognition
editKlee served as president of theMathematical Association of Americafrom 1971 to 1973.[1]In 1972 he won aLester R. Ford Award.[3]In 1977 the MAA recognized Klee by presenting him with their Award for Distinguished Service to Mathematics.[4]
Notes
edit- ^abGritzmann, Peter;Sturmfels, Bernd(April 2008)."Victor L. Klee 1925–2007"(PDF).Notices of the American Mathematical Society.55(4). Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society: 467–473.ISSN0002-9920.
- ^Klee, Victor;Minty, George J.(1972). "How good is the simplex algorithm?". In Shisha, Oved (ed.).Inequalities III (Proceedings of the Third Symposium on Inequalities held at the University of California, Los Angeles, Calif., September 1–9, 1969, dedicated to the memory of Theodore S. Motzkin).New York-London: Academic Press. pp. 159–175.MR0332165.
- ^Klee, Victor (1971)."What is a convex set?".Amer. Math. Monthly.78(6): 616–631.doi:10.2307/2316569.JSTOR2316569.
- ^Botts, Truman (1977). "Award for Distinguished Service to Professor Victor Klee".The American Mathematical Monthly.84(2): 81–82.doi:10.1080/00029890.1977.11994293.ISSN0002-9890.
Further reading
edit- Grünbaum, Branko;Robert R. Phelps;Peter L. Renz; Kenneth A. Ross (November 2007)."Remembering Vic Klee"(PDF).MAA Focus.27(8). Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America: 20–22.ISSN0731-2040.Retrieved2009-05-22.Short biography, and reminiscences of colleagues.
External links
edit- Applied Geometry and Discrete Mathematicsa volume dedicated to Klee on his 65th birthday.
- Brief obituary at the Mathematical Association of America (MAA)
- AMS column: People Making a Difference
- Victor Kleeat theMathematics Genealogy Project
- MAA presidents: Victor LaRue Klee
- Shapes of the Future: Some unsolved problems in geometry.Two dimensions,Three dimensions