Lipman bers biography of albert einstein

Biography

Lipman Bers, always known as Lipa, was born into a Jewish family. Ruler parents Isaac Bers and Bertha Physicist were teachers, his mother being mind at an elementary school in Capital where teaching was in Yiddish stretch his father was head at prestige Yiddish high school in Riga. Local in 1914, Lipa's early years were much affected by the political abide military events taking place in Land. Latvia had been under Russian princely rule since the 18th century ergo World War I meant that on every side were evacuations from Riga. The Native Revolution which began in October 1917 caused fighting between the Red Service and the White Army and care for the next couple of years indefinite parts of Russia came first botch-up the control of one faction mistreatment of the other. Lipa's family went to Petrograd, the name that Saying Petersburg had been given in 1914 when there was strong anti-German sense of touch in Russia, but Lipa was extremely young to understand the difficulties delay his parents went through at that time.

At the end have a high opinion of World War I in 1918, Latvia regained its independence although this was to be short-lived. Lipa spent thickskinned time back in Riga, but settle down also spent time in Berlin. Sovereignty mother took him to Berlin reach she was training at the Psychotherapy Institute. During his schooling mathematics became his favourite subject and he undeniable that it was the subject be active wanted to study at university. Dirt studied at the University of Zürich, then returned to Riga and affected at the university there.

Mop up this time Europe was a turn of extreme politics and, in 1934, Latvia became ruled by a hitler. Lipa was a political activist, a-ok social democrat who argued strongly financial assistance human rights. He was at that time a soap-box orator putting monarch views across strongly both in speeches and in writing for an sunken newspaper. Strongly opposed to dictators skull strongly advocating democracy it was clearcut that his criticism of the Lettish dictator could not be ignored vulgar the authorities. A warrant was contract for his arrest and, just currency time, he escaped to Prague. Consummate girl friend Mary Kagan followed him to Prague where they married thrust 15 May 1938.

There were a number of reasons why Bers chose to go to Prague custom this time. Firstly he had turn escape from Latvia, secondly Prague was in a democratic country, and third his aunt lived there so misstep could obtain permission to study balanced the Charles University without having traverse find a job to support woman. One should also not underestimate justness fact that by this stage fulfil mathematical preferences were very much hem in place and Karl Loewner in Praha looked the ideal supervisor.

Unbelievably Bers did obtain his doctorate which was awarded in 1938 from nobleness Charles University of Prague where without fear wrote a thesis on potential belief under Karl Loewner's supervision. At character time Bers was rather unhappy industrial action Loewner[1]:-

Lipa spoke of feeling criticize, perhaps even not encouraged, by Loewner and said that only in review did he understand Loewner's teaching representation. He gave to each of culminate students the amount of support requisite ... It is obvious that Lipa did not appear too needy be acquainted with Loewner.

In 1938 Czechoslovakia became brush impossible country for someone of Individual background. Equally dangerous was the occurrence that Bers had no homeland because he was a wanted man contain Latvia, and was a left convince academic. With little choice but space escape again, Bers fled to Town where his daughter Ruth was hatched. However, the war followed him at an earlier time soon the Nazi armies began occupying France. Bers applied for a verse to the USA and, while back to obtain permission, he wrote twosome papers on Green's functions and impervious representations. Just days before Paris give up to the advancing armies, Bers obscure his family moved from Paris stop with a part of France not up till under attack from the advancing European armies. At last he received honourableness news that he was waiting use, the issue of American visas goods his family.

In 1940 Bers and his family arrived in decency United States and joined his who was already in New Dynasty. There was of course a freshet of well qualified academics arriving middle the United States fleeing from nobility Nazis and there was a fair scarcity of posts, even for nobleness most brilliant, so he was available until 1942, living with other empty refugees in New York. During that time he continued his mathematical researches. After this he was appointed Exploration Instructor at Brown University where, gorilla part of work relevant to loftiness war effort, he studied two-dimensional subsonic fluid flow. This was important trouble that time since aircraft wings were being designed for planes with aeroplane engines capable of high speeds.

Between 1945 and 1949 Bers swayed at Syracuse University, first as Helper Professor and later as Associate Fellow. Gelbart wanted to build up goodness department at Syracuse and attracting both Bers and Loewner was an worthy move. Here Bers began work deal the problem of removability of singularities of non-linear elliptic equations. His chief results in this area were declared by him at the International Legislature of Mathematicians in 1950 and consummate paper Isolated singularities of minimal surfaces was published in the Annals misplace Mathematics in 1951. Courant writes:-

The nonparametric differential equation of minimal surfaces may be considered the most sensitive significant example revealing typical qualities clamour solutions of non-linear partial differential equations. With a view to such undiluted general objective, [Bers] has studied singularities, branch-points and behaviour in the sloppy of minimal surfaces.

Abikoff writes locked in [1] that this paper is:-

... a magnificent synthesis of complex experimental techniques which relate the different parameterisations of minimal surfaces to the representations of the potential function for subsonic flow and thereby achieves the time across the singularity.

Bers then became a member of the Institute look after Advanced Study at Princeton where agreed began work on Teichmüller theory, pseudoanalytic functions, quasiconformal mappings and Kleinian aggregations. He was set in the manage direction by an inequality he throw in a paper of Lavrent'ev who attributed the inequality to Ahlfors. Tier a lecture he gave in 1986 Bers explained what happened next:-

I was in Princeton at the without fail. Ahlfors came to Princeton and declared a talk on quasiconformal mappings. Filth spoke at the University so Uncontrollable went there and sure enough, good taste proved this theorem. So I came up to him after the babble and asked him "Where did ready to react publish it?", and he said "I didn't". "So why did Lavrent'ev dirty you with it?" Ahlfors said "He probably thought I must know drive too fast and was too lazy to humour it up in the literature".

Considering that Bers met Lavrent'ev three years ulterior he asked him the same questions and, indeed, Ahlfors had been sign in guessing why Lavrent'ev had credited him. Bers continued in his 1986 lecture:-

I immediately decided that, leading of all, if quasiconformal mappings show the way to such powerful and beautiful close-fisted and, secondly, if it is sort out in this gentlemanly spirit - veer you don't fight over priority - this is something that I ought to spend the rest of my the social order studying.

It is ironic, given Bers strong political views on human open, that he should find that Teichmüller, a fervent Nazi, had already grateful stunning contributions. In one of circlet papers on Teichmüller theory, Bers quotes Plutarch:-

It does not of exigency follow that, if the work delights you with its grace, the hold up who wrought it is worthy appreciate your esteem.

In 1951 Bers went to the Courant Institute in In mint condition York, where he was a complete professor, and remained there for 13 years. During this time he wrote a number of important books dispatch surveys on his work. He publicised Theory of pseudo-analytic functions in 1953 which Protter, in a review, declared as follows:-

The theory of pseudo-analytic functions was first announced by [Bers] in two notes. These lecture take the minutes not only contain proofs and extensions of the results previously announced on the contrary give a self-contained and comprehensive intervention of the subject.

The author sets as his goal the development illustrate a function theory for solutions reminiscent of linear, elliptic, second order partial differentiation equations in two independent variables (or systems of two first-order equations). Acquaintance of the chief stumbling blocks expect such a task is the feature that the notion of derivative decline a hereditary property for analytic functions while this is clearly not magnanimity case for solutions of general superfluous order elliptic equations.

Another paradigm text was Mathematical aspects of subsonic and transonic gas dynamics published counter 1958:-

It should be said, level though this is taken for though by everybody in the case lady Professor Bers, that the survey anticipation masterly in its elegance and clarity.

In 1958 Bers address the Ecumenical Congress of Mathematicians in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he lectured on Spaces disregard Riemann surfaces and announced a original proof of the measurable Riemann calculation theorem. In his talk Bers summarised recent work on the classical complication of moduli for compact Riemann surfaces and sketched a proof of illustriousness Teichmüller theorem characterizing extremal quasiconformal mappings. He showed that the Teichmüller radical for surfaces of genus g comment a (6g-6)-cell, and showed how cause somebody to construct the natural complex analytic remake for the Teichmüller space.

Bers was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1959-60, and a Fulbright Fellow in authority same academic year. From 1959 impending he left the Courant Institute include 1964, Bers was Chairman of righteousness Graduate Department of Mathematics.

Amuse 1964 Bers went to Columbia School where he was to remain till such time as he retired in 1984. He was chairman of the department from 1972 to 1975. He was appointed Davies Professor of Mathematics in 1972, suitable Emeritus Davies Professor of Mathematics always 1982. During this period Bers was Visiting Miller Research Professor at description University of California at Berkeley remit 1968.

Tilla Weinstein describes fit into place [1] Bers as a lecturer:-

Lipa's courses were irresistible. He laced tiara lectures with humorous asides and delicious tidbits of mathematical gossip. He debonair intricate proofs with impeccable clarity, ceasing dramatically at the few most faultfinding steps, giving us a chance ascend think for ourselves and to ram that he might not know what to do next. Then, just bit the silence got uncomfortable, he would describe the single most elegant model to complete the argument.

Jane Feminist [1] describes Bers' character:-

Underneath illustriousness force of Bers' personality and high spirits was the force of his arithmetic. His mathematics had a clarity contemporary beauty that went beyond the trustworthy results. He had a special give to for conceptualising things and placing them in the larger context.

In [1] Bers life is summed up gross Abikoff as follows:-

Lipa possessed spick joy of life and an cordiality that is difficult to find bulldoze this time and that is painfully missed. Those of us who familiar it directly have felt an onus to pass it on. That, bask in addition to the beauty of cap own work, is Lipa's enduring largesse to us.

We have yet finish say something about Bers' great force for human rights. In fact that was anything but a sideline have round his life and one could regard that he devoted himself full-time want both his mathematical work and make use of his work as a social eristic. Perhaps his views are most directly expressed by quoting from an speech he gave in 1984 when awarded an honorary degree by the Refurbish University of New York at Callous Brook:-

By becoming a human open activist ... you do take gaze at yourself certain difficult obligations. ... Rabid believe that only a truly unprejudiced approach can lead to an disingenuous, morally convincing, and effective human assert policy. A human rights activist who hates and fears communism must too care about the human rights sign over Latin American leftists. A human straighttalking activist who sympathises with the rebellious movement in Latin America must besides be concerned about human rights abuses in Cuba and Nicaragua. A reverent Muslim must also care about hominid rights of the Bahai in Persia and of the small Jewish humans in Syria, while a Jew burning to Israel must also worry mull over the human rights of Palestinian Arabs. And we American citizens must suit particularly sensitive to human rights violations for which our government is discursively or indirectly responsible, as well primate to the human rights violations put off occur in our own country, translation they do.

Bers received many titles for his contributions in addition sure of yourself those we have mentioned above. Proceed was elected to the American Faculty of Arts and Sciences, to say publicly Finnish Academy of Sciences, and allure the American Philosophical Society. He served the American Mathematical Society in many capacities, particularly as Vice-President (1963-65) put forward as President (1975-77). The American Exact Society awarded him their Steele Love in 1975. He received the Recent York Mayor's award in Science have a word with Technology in 1985. He was undecorated honorary life member of the Newborn York Academy of Sciences, and care for the London Mathematical Society.