IN MEMORIAM Gian-Carlo Rota (1932–1999)

• Book ID: 102558773
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 19 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0196-8858
• DOI: 10.1006/aama.2000.0685

✦ Synopsis

The founding editor of Advances in Applied Mathematics, Gian-Carlo Rota, passed away in April 1999. Rota began his mathematical career in functional analysis and the related areas of differential equations, probability theory, and ergodic theory. Motivated by questions in probability and ergodic theory, he moved into combinatorics in the early 1960s. His insistent search for the foundations of combinatorial theory changed the subject and put it firmly in the mainstream of mathematics. Two areas he was working on at the time of his death were profinite combinatorics, a rapprochement of the discrete and the continuous, and the foundations of probability theory.

Rota's mathematical interests made him an ideal editor of this journal. He was always open to new ideas and new ways of applying mathematics. He managed the difficult art of keeping a journal interesting. It will be a challenge to continue his work.