George Szekeres AM FAA (Hungarian: [ˈsɛkɛrɛʃ]; 29 May 1911 – 28 August 2005) was a Hungarian–Australian mathematician.
George Szekeres | |
|---|---|
 George Szekeres, 2001 | |
| Born | 29 May 1911 |
| Died | 28 August 2005 (aged 94) Adelaide, Australia |
| Nationality | Hungarian-Australian |
| Alma mater | Technical University of Budapest |
| Known for | Szekeres snark Kruskal–Szekeres coordinates Erdős–Szekeres theorem |
| Spouse | Esther Szekeres |
| Children | Peter · Judy |
| Awards | Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal (1968) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematician |
| Institutions | University of Adelaide University of New South Wales |
| Doctoral students | Alfred van der Poorten |
Early years
editSzekeres was born in Budapest, Hungary, as Szekeres György and received his degree in chemistry at the Technical University of Budapest. He worked six years in Budapest as an analytical chemist. He married Esther Klein in 1937.[1] Being Jewish, the family had to escape from the Nazi persecution so Szekeres took a job in Shanghai, China. There they lived through World War II, the Japanese occupation and the beginnings of the Communist revolution.
Career
editIn 1948, he was offered a position at the University of Adelaide, Australia, that he gladly accepted. After all the troubles he had had, he began flourishing as a mathematician. In 1963, the family moved to Sydney, where Szekeres took a position at the University of New South Wales, and taught there until his retirement in 1975. He also devised problems for secondary school mathematical olympiads run by the university where he taught, and for a yearly undergraduate competition run by the Sydney University Mathematics Society.
Szekeres worked closely with many prominent mathematicians throughout his life, including Paul Erdős, his wife Esther, Pál Turán, Béla Bollobás, Ronald Graham, Alf van der Poorten, Miklós Laczkovich, and John Coates.
Honours
edit- In 1968 he was the winner of the Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal of the Australian Academy of Science.
- In May 2001, a festschrift was held in honour of his ninetieth birthday at the University of New South Wales.
- In January 2001 he was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal "for service to Australian society and science in pure mathematics".[2]
- In 2001, the Australian Mathematical Society created the George Szekeres Medal in his honour.
- In June 2002, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) 'for service to mathematics and science, particularly as a contributor to education and research, to the support and development of the University of New South Wales Mathematics Competition and the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Team.'[3]
Personal life
editThe so-called Happy Ending problem is an example of how mathematics pervaded George's life. During 1933, George and several other students met frequently in Budapest to discuss mathematics. At one of these meetings, Esther Klein proposed the following problem:
- Given five points in the plane in general position, prove that four of them form a convex quadrilateral.
After allowing George, Paul Erdős, and the other students to scratch their heads for some time, Esther explained her proof.[4] Subsequently, George and Paul wrote a paper (1935) that generalises this result; it is regarded as one of the foundational works in the field of combinatorial geometry. Erdős dubbed the original problem the "Happy Ending" problem because it resulted in George and Esther's marriage in 1937.
George and Esther died within an hour of each other on 28 August 2005 in Adelaide, South Australia.[1]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ a b Obituary, The Sydney Morning Herald
- ^ "Centenary Medal". It's an Honour. Canberra: Honours and Awards Branch, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. 1 January 2001. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ "Member of the Order of Australia". It's an Honour. Canberra: Honours and Awards Branch, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. 10 June 2002. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ "Ivars Peterson's MathTrek -Planes of Budapest". Archived from the original on 21 January 2001.
References
edit- Giles, J. R., Wallis, J. S., "George Szekeres. With affection and respect", Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society, Series A, Vol 21 (1976), No 4, pp. 385–392.
- Cowling, M., "Obituary George and Esther Szekeres", Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society, Vol 32 (2005), No 4, pp. 221–224.
- Erdős, Paul; Szekeres, George (1935). "A combinatorial problem in geometry". Compositio Mathematica. 2: 463–470.