Marston Morse
| H. C. Marston Morse | |
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 Marston Morse in 1965 (courtesy MFO)
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| Born | 24 March 1892 Waterville, Maine |
| Died | 22 June 1977 (aged 85) Princeton, New Jersey |
| Nationality |  American |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Harvard University |
| Alma mater | Colby College Harvard University |
| Doctoral advisor | G. D. Birkhoff |
| Doctoral students | Emilio Baiada Arthur B. Brown Gustav Hedlund Walter Leighton Sumner Myers |
| Known for | Morse theory |
Harold Calvin Marston Morse (24 March 1892 – 22 June 1977) was an American mathematician best known for his work on the calculus of variations in the large, a subject where he introduced the technique of differential topology now known as Morse theory. In 1933 he was awarded the Bôcher Memorial Prize for his work in mathematical analysis.
He was born in Waterville, Maine to Ella Phoebe Marston and Howard Calvin Morse in 1892. He received his bachelor's degree from Colby College (also in Waterville) in 1914. At Harvard University, he received both his master's degree in 1915 and his Ph.D. in 1917.
He taught at Harvard, Brown, and Cornell Universities before accepting a position in 1935 at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he remained until his retirement in 1962.
He spent most of his career on a single subject, eponymously titled Morse Theory, a branch of differential topology. Morse Theory is a very important subject in modern mathematical physics, such as string theory.
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[edit] Quotes
"Mathematics are the result of mysterious powers which no one understands, and which the unconscious recognition of beauty must play an important part. Out of an infinity of designs a mathematician chooses one pattern for beauty's sake and pulls it down to earth."
[edit] See also
[edit] Publications
- Morse, Marston (1981), Bott, Raoul, ed., Selected papers, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-0-387-90532-7, MR635124, http://books.google.com/books?id=UOLuAAAAMAAJ
- Morse, Marston (1987), Montgomery, Deane; Bott, Raoul, eds., Collected papers. Vol. 1--6, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co., ISBN 9789971978945, MR889255, http://books.google.com/books?id=6Bc8bwAACAAJ
[edit] External links
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Marston Morse", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Morse.html.
- Marston Morse at the Mathematics Genealogy Project.
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- 1892 births
- 1977 deaths
- 20th-century mathematicians
- American mathematicians
- Colby College alumni
- Cornell University faculty
- Harvard University alumni
- Harvard University faculty
- Institute for Advanced Study faculty
- People from Waterville, Maine
- Princeton University faculty
- Stanford University faculty
- Topologists
- National Medal of Science laureates
- Presidents of the American Mathematical Society
- American mathematician stubs
