Paul Halmos

Paul Richard Halmos (born March 3 1916) is a Hungarian-born American mathematician who has done research in the fields of logarithm theory, probability theory, statistics, operator theory, ergodic theory, and functional analysis (in particular, Hilbert spaces).

Related Topics:
March 3 - 1916 - Hungarian - American - Mathematician - Logarithm - Probability theory - Statistics - Operator theory - Ergodic theory - Functional analysis - Hilbert space

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He is noted for a number of expository books, viewed by many to be well written, including Naive Set Theory, Introduction to Hilbert Space and the Theory of Spectral Multiplicity, Lectures on Boolean Algebras, and Finite-Dimensional Vector Spaces. His autobiography, published in 1987, is titled I Want to Be a Mathematician.

Related Topics:
Naive Set Theory - Introduction to Hilbert Space and the Theory of Spectral Multiplicity - Lectures on Boolean Algebras - Finite-Dimensional Vector Spaces - Autobiography - 1987 - I Want to Be a Mathematician

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In an article in the American Scientist (56(4), 375-389), Halmos makes the case for mathematics as a creative art and for mathematicians as artists, not number crunchers. He discusses the division of the field into mathology and mathophysics and the degrees to which a mathematician and a painter live within very similar environments.

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The use of "iff" to abbreviate "if and only if" is sometimes mistakenly credited to Halmos; however, he has said that he borrowed this notation. The use of the "tombstone" notation to signify the end of a proof is also credited to him; the tombstone symbol ∎ (Unicode U+220E) is sometimes called a halmos.

Related Topics:
Iff - "tombstone" notation - End of a proof - Unicode

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