Laurence Chisholm Young Explained

Laurence Chisholm Young
Birth Date:	14 July 1905
Birth Place:	Göttingen
Death Place:	Madison, Wisconsin
Workplaces:	Trinity College, Cambridge University of Cape Town University of Wisconsin–Madison University of Campinas IMPA
Alma Mater:	Cambridge University
Doctoral Students:	Wendell Fleming
Known For:	Calculus of variations, real analysis
Awards:	Isaac Newton Studentship (1930) Honorary degree from Paris Dauphine University (1984)

Laurence Chisholm Young (14 July 1905 – 24 December 2000) was a British mathematician known for his contributions to measure theory, the calculus of variations, optimal control theory, and potential theory. He was the son of William Henry Young and Grace Chisholm Young, both prominent mathematicians. He moved to the US in 1949 but never sought American citizenship.

The concept of Young measure is named after him: he also introduced the concept of the generalized curve^[1] and a concept of generalized surface^[2] which later evolved in the concept of varifold.^{[3] [4]} The Young integral also is named after him and has now been generalised in the theory of rough paths.^[5]

Life and academic career

Laurence Chisholm Young was born in Göttingen,^[6] the fifth of the six children of William Henry Young and Grace Chisholm Young.^[7] He held positions of Professor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was also a chess grandmaster.^[8]

Selected publications

Books

• , available from the Internet archive.
• .
• .

Papers

• .
• , memoir presented by Stanisław Saks at the session of 16 December 1937 of the Warsaw Society of Sciences and Letters. The free PDF copy is made available by the RCIN –Digital Repository of the Scientifics Institutes.
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See also

• Bounded variation
• Caccioppoli set
• Measure theory
• Varifold

References

Biographical and general references

• • , including a reply by L. C. Young himself (pages 109–112).
• .

Scientific references

• . One of the most complete monographs on the theory of Young measures, strongly oriented to applications in continuum mechanics of fluids.
• . A thorough scrutiny of Young measures and their various generalization is in Chapter 3 from the perspective of convex compactifications.
• .
• . An extended version of with a list of Almgren's publications.

External links

• • Obituary on University of Wisconsin web site

Notes and References

1. .
2. .
3. In his commemorative papers describing the research of Almgren, writes that these are "essentially the same class of surfaces". He notes also that Young himself used the same term in a somewhat different context i.e. in .
4. See also the 2015 unpublished essay of his pupil Wendell Fleming.
5. .
6. .
7. .
8. https://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/young.htm Grace Chisholm Young at Biographies of Women Mathematicians