Died 1944-11-12.
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George David Birkhoff
George David Birkhoff was an American mathematician. He is considered one of the top American mathematicians of his generation. He made valuable contributions to the theory of differential equations, dynamical systems, the four-color problem, the three-body problem, and general relativity. Today, Birkhoff is best remembered for the ergodic theorem. The George D. Birkhoff House, his residence in Ca…
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science · American mathematician (1884–1944) · mathematician · topologist · university teacher · also George David Birkhoff, George D. Birkhoff, Birkhoff
Born 21 March 1884 · Died 12 November 1944 · Q327301
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1944· 1 entry
1943· 1 entry
Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1943).
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1937· 1 entry
Served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a rare occurrence for mathematicians and was proof of his respect amongst the scientific community
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1936· 1 entry
Awarded doctor honoris causa from the University of Paris (1936).
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1933· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Poitiers (1933).
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Career landmark: Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics (1933–1944).
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1926· 2 entries
Awarded Newcomb Cleveland Prize (1926).
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Travelled Europe to serve as an unofficial representative of the Rockefeller Foundation's International Education Board
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1923· 3 entries
Awarded Bôcher Memorial Prize (1923).
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Birkhoff also proved that the Schwarzschild geometry is the unique spherically symmetric solution of the Einstein field equations
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Was awarded the inaugural Bôcher Memorial Prize by the American Mathematical Society for his paper in 1917 containing, among other things, what is now called the Birkhoff curve shortening process
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1919· 1 entry
Served as vice president of the society
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1913· 1 entry
Proved Poincaré's "Last Geometric Theorem," a special case of the three-body problem, a result that made him world-famous and improved the international recognition of American mathematics
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1912· 1 entry
Attempting to solve the four color problem, Birkhoff introduced the chromatic polynomial
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1911· 1 entry
They had three children, Barbara, mathematician Garrett Birkhoff (1911–1996) and Rodney.
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1905· 2 entries
Studied at Harvard University (1903–1905).
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And at the age of twenty-three, graduated summa cum laude with his Ph
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1902· 1 entry
Studied at University of Chicago (1902).
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1884· 1 entry
Born 1884-03-21.
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