An Uneasy Alliance: The Mathematics Research Center At the University of Wisconsin, 1956-1987

111 Pages·2004·14.78 MB·English

by  Jagdish Chandra

AN UNEASY
ALLIANCE
Professor J. Barkley Rosser (1907-1989)
Director of the Mathematics Research Center, 1963-1973
AN UNEASY
ALLIANCE
The Mathematics Research Center
at the University of Wisconsin,
1956-1987
Jagdish Chandra
The George Washington University
Washington, DC
Stephen M. Robinson
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Philadelphia
Copyright © 2005 by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
10 987654321
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may
be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any manner without the written permission
of the publisher. For information, write to the Society for Industrial and Applied
Mathematics, 3600 University City Science Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104-2688.
Cover photo courtesy of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives, image 13,
029-C1. Used by permission.
Frontispiece photo courtesy of Annetta Hamilton Rosser. Used by permission.
Adobe and Acrobat are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems
Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chandra, J.
An uneasy alliance : the Mathematics Research Center at the University of
Wisconsin, 1956-1987 / Jagdish Chandra, Stephen M. Robinson
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-89871-535-0 (pbk.)
1. University of Wisconsin—Madison. Mathematics Research Center—History. 2.
Mathematics—Research—Wisconsin—Madison—History. 3. Military
research—Wisconsin—Madison—History. I. Robinson, Stephen M. II. Title.
QA13.5.W63U553 2004
510'.72'077583—dc22 2003063331
2003063331
is a registered trademark.
We dedicate this monograph
to our wives, Shantha and Chong-Suk,
and
to Vannevar Bush, for his vision and his dedication to U.S. science.
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Vll
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Why This Book? 1
What is it about? 1
Who are we, the authors? 2
Why write it, and why now? 2
Why read it? 3
How is it organized? 3
Chapter 1: The Beginning, 1956-1963 5
Introduction 5
Science and society 5
Government and science in 20th-century America 6
Government research agencies at mid-century 7
Mathematics and the military 7
The Army and mathematics 9
Establishment of the center 10
Early impact 12
Secrecy and security clearance at MRC 14
Relationship with mathematics and other departments 14
MRC and the university 14
MRC and the Army 15
Conclusion 16
Chapter 2: The Rosser Years, 1963-1973 17
Introduction 17
Shaping the research program 18
A view of the research program at work 21
Impact of the Vietnam War on MRC 25
Declining support for mathematics 27
Change in the MRC leadership 28
Conclusion 30
Chapter 3: Transition and Endgame, 1973-1987 31
Introduction 31
Externally directed program change 32
Organizational rigidities versus adaptation 36
The last years of MRC 39
Conclusion 42
Chapter 4: An Intellectual Crossroads....................................................... 45
Introduction 45
Spline functions 45
Viscosity solutions 49
Generalized equations in nonlinear programming 52
Applied functional analysis 53
Linear equations and generalized inverses 55
Visitors and MRC 57
Interdisciplinary research and team effort 59
viii Contents
Conclusion 60
Chapter 5: Impact: What Some Others Think 63
Chapter 6: MRC: Some Lessons Learned 67
Key strengths of MRC, and some of the lessons learned 67
MRC: A paradigm for center-based research 68
A comparison with four other research centers 70
Interdisciplinary research 72
The U.S. Army, MRC, and the mathematical sciences 73
In conclusion: Four issues raised in the introduction 74
Appendix 1: A Dove's Defense of MRC 77
Appendix 2: The Horns of a Dilemma 81
Index 83
Notes 87
IX
List of Illustrations
Plate 1. Professor Rudolph E. Langer.
Plate 2. This group indicates the international character of those who attended MRC conferences:
Dr. Langer; Dr. L. M. Milne-Thompson, Royal Naval College, England; Dr. B. R. Seth, In-
dian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India; Dr. F. D. Murnaghan, U.S. Navy David Tay-
lor Model Basin, Maryland; and Dr. Robert Stoneley, University of Cambridge, England.
Plate 3. Members of the Army Mathematics Steering Committee: Dr. Fred Frishman, Dr. Ivan R.
Hershner (Chairman), Professor Herbert Solomon (fourth from left), Professor Robert M.
Thrall, Dr. Douglas Tang, Professor J. Barkley Rosser (Director, MRC), Mr. Joseph Kirshner,
Dr. John Huang, Dr. Walter Pressman, Mr. Larry Gambino, Dr. Norman Coleman and Dr.
Alan Galbraith (in the rear), John Giese, Mr. Walter Foster, and Dr. Ronald Uhlig (in the
rear), Dr. Badrig Kurkjian, and Col. Lothrop Mittenthal (extreme right).
Plate 4. Dr. Ivan R, Hershner (second from left).
Plate 5. Professor J. Barkley Rosser with participants at the 25th Conference of Army Mathema-
ticians at the Johns Hopkins University. Professor Ronald Rivlin is third from right. Others in
the photo include Army mathematicians Dr. James Thompson (second from right) and Dr. S.
Takagi, extreme right.
Plate 6. Professor Thomas N. E. Greville, MRC.
Plate 7. Col. Jack M. Pollin, Chair, Mathematics Department, U.S. Military Academy, and Mr.
Carl Bates confer with Dr. Jagdish Chandra, Chairman, Army Mathematics Steering Commit-
tee, during a meeting in 1977.
Plate 8. Dr. Percy Pierre, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Development, flanked
by Professor Ben Noble (outgoing Director of MRC) on the left and Professor John Nohel
(incoming Director of MRC) on the right.
Plate 9. Professor Ken Wilson (Cornell University and a Nobel Laureate in Physics), second from
left, talking to some members of the Army Mathematics Steering Committee. Others in the
photo are Mr. Herbert Cohen (extreme left) and, from the right, Dr. Israel Meyk, Professor
Ram P. Srivastav, and Dr. Paul Boggs.
Plate 10. Professor Wilson addressing the general session of the Army Mathematics Steering
Committee.
Plate 11. Dr. Chandra (extreme right), conferring with the chairmen of the subcommittees. The
photo includes, from the left, Drs. Douglas Tang, Edward Ross, and Stephen Wolff.
Plate 12.Dr. Chandra affixing the pin for the U.S. Army Decoration for Distinguished Civilian
Service awarded to Professor Noble, as Dr. Percy Pierre, Assistant Secretary of the Army,
looks on.