Richard Kadison Explained

Richard Kadison
Birth Date:	25 July 1925
Birth Place:	New York City, New York, U.S.
Death Place:	Narberth, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Known For:	Kadison–Kaplansky conjecture Kadison's inequality Kadison–Singer problem^[1] Kadison transitivity theorem Kadison–Kastler metric
Fields:	Mathematics
Workplaces:	University of Pennsylvania
Education:	University of Chicago
Thesis Title:	A Unified Representation Theory for Topological Algebra
Thesis Year:	1950
Doctoral Advisor:	Marshall Harvey Stone
Doctoral Students:	James Glimm Richard Lashof Marc Rieffel Mikael Rørdam Erling Størmer
Awards:	Steele Prize (1999)

Richard Vincent Kadison (July 25, 1925 – August 22, 2018) was an American mathematician known for his contributions to the study of operator algebras.

Career

Born in New York City in 1925,^{[2] [3]} Kadison was a Gustave C. Kuemmerle Professor in the Department of Mathematics of the University of Pennsylvania.^[4]

Kadison was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (elected in 1996),^{[5] [6]} and a foreign member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (elected 1974)^[2] and of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.^[7] He was a 1969 Guggenheim Fellow.^[8]

Kadison was awarded the 1999 Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement by the American Mathematical Society.^{[4] [9]} In 2012, he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.^[10]

Personal life

Kadison was a skilled gymnast with a specialty in rings, making the 1952 US Olympic Team but later withdrawing due to an injury.^[11] He married Karen M. Holm on June 5, 1956, and they had one son, Lars.^[11]

Kadison died after a short illness on August 22, 2018.

Selected publications

Books

• with John Ringrose: Fundamentals of the Theory of Operator Algebras 2 vols., Academic Press 1983; new edition, Fundamentals of the theory of operator algebras: Elementary theory, Vol. 1, 1997 Fundamentals of the theory of operator algebras: Advanced theory, Vol. 2, 1997 AMS 1997^{[12] [13]}
• with John Ringrose: Fundamentals of the theory of operator algebras, III-IV. An exercise approach, Birkhäuser, Basel, III: 1991, xiv+273 pp., ; IV: 1992, xiv+586 pp., ^{[14] [15] [16]}

PNAS articles

• On representations of finite type. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 24829 . 9811810. 95. 1998. 13392–6. 10.1073/pnas.95.23.13392. Kadison. R. V.. 23. 1998PNAS...9513392K . free.
• with I. M. Singer: Some Remarks on Representations of Connected Groups. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1063576 . 16589115. 38. 1952. 419–23. 10.1073/pnas.38.5.419. Kadison. R. V.. Singer. I. M.. 5. 1952PNAS...38..419K . free.
• with Bent Fuglede: On a Conjecture of Murray and von Neumann. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1063392 . 16578376. 37. 1951. 420–5. 10.1073/pnas.37.7.420 . Fuglede. B.. Kadison. R. V.. 7. 1951PNAS...37..420F . free.
• with Zhe Liu: A note on derivations of Murray–von Neumann algebras. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 3926033. 10.1073/pnas.1321358111. 24469831. 111. 2014. 2087–93. Kadison. Richard V.. Liu. Zhe. 6. 2014PNAS..111.2087K . free.
• The Pythagorean Theorem: II. The infinite discrete case. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 122749. 10.1073/pnas.032677299. 16578869. 99. 2002. 5217–22. Kadison. R. V.. 8. 2002PNAS...99.5217K . free.
• The Pythagorean Theorem: I. The finite case. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 123622. 10.1073/pnas.032677199. 11929992. 99. 2002. 4178–84. Kadison. R. V.. 7. 2002PNAS...99.4178K . free.
• Irreducible Operator Algebras. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 528430 . 16590013. 43. 1957. 273–6. 10.1073/pnas.43.3.273. Kadison. R. V.. 3. 1957PNAS...43..273K . free.
• On the Additivity of the Trace in Finite Factors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 528101 . 16589685. 41. 1955. 385–7. 10.1073/pnas.41.6.385. Kadison. R. V.. 6. 1955PNAS...41..385K . free.
• Multiplicity Theory for Operator Algebras. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 528046 . 16589638. 41. 1955. 169–73. 10.1073/pnas.41.3.169. Kadison. R. V.. 3. 1955PNAS...41..169K . free.
• with Bent Fuglede: On Determinants and a Property of the Trace in Finite Factors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1063393 . 16578377. 37. 1951. 425–31. 10.1073/pnas.37.7.425. Fuglede. B.. Kadison. R. V.. 7. 1951PNAS...37..425F . free.

Notes and References

1. http://www.maa.org/news/math-news/kadison-singer-conjecture-succumbs-to-proof Kadison–Singer Conjecture Succumbs to Proof | Mathematical Association of America
2. Web site: In Memoriam, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Mathematics . https://web.archive.org/web/20210624130320/https://www.math.upenn.edu/about/department-history/in-memoriam. 2021-06-24. dead . University of Pennsylvania.
3. Web site: Library of Congress Name Authority File. Library of Congress.
4. http://www.math.upenn.edu/History/recog/kadison.html Richard Kadison wins 1999 AMS Steele Prize.
5. http://www.nasonline.org/site/Dir/113810132?pg=vprof&mbr=1001061&returl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasonline.org%2Fsite%2FDir%2F113810132%3Fpg%3Dsrch%26view%3Dbasic&retmk=search_again_link Kadison, Richard V.
6. 10.1126/science.272.5263.808 . 272 . National Academy of Sciences Elects New Members . 1996 . Science. 5263 . 808–0 . 220101739 .
7. http://english.dnva.no/c40134/artikkel/vis.html?tid=40147 Academy members list, Mathematical Sciences
8. http://www.gf.org/fellows/all?index=k Guggenheim Fellow list
9. 1999 . 1999 Steele Prizes . . 46 . 4. 457–462 .
10. https://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
11. Ge . Liming. Jaffe . Arthur. Rieffel . Marc. Rørdam . Mikael . October 2019 . In Memoriam: Richard Kadison (1925–2018) . . 66 . 9 . 1453–1463 . 10.1090/noti1949. free .
12. https://www.ams.org/bookstore-getitem/item=GSM-15 Fundamentals of the Theory of Operator Algebras. Volume I, AMS website
13. https://www.ams.org/bookstore-getitem/item=GSM-16 Fundamentals of the Theory of Operator Algebras. Volume II, AMS website
14. Pedersen, Gert K.. Review of Fundamentals of the theory of operator algebras, III-IV. An exercise approach by Richard Kadison and John Ringrose. Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.). 1994. 31. 2. 275–277. 10.1090/s0273-0979-1994-00531-2. free.
15. https://www.ams.org/bookstore-getitem/item=FTOAN-3-S Fundamentals of the Theory of Operator Algebras. Volume III, AMS website
16. https://www.ams.org/bookstore-getitem/item=FTOAN-4-S Fundamentals of the Theory of Operator Algebras. Volume IV, AMS website