Benedict Freedman (December 19, 1919 – February 24, 2012) was an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

, the co-author of ''

Mrs. Mike ''Mrs. Mike, the Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan'' is a novel by Benedict and Nancy Freedman set in the Canadian wilderness during the early 1900s. Considered by some a young-adult classic, ''Mrs. Mike'' was initially serialized in the Atlantic ...

'' and a professor of mathematics at

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Life

Upbringing

Freedman was born to a Jewish family in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. His father,

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, emigrated to America from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. He studied at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

from ages 13 to 16, but dropped out without graduating after the death of his father. He took up his father's profession as a radio writer, and moved to the west coast where he worked for

MGM Studios Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

Career

Writing

Freedman met his wife

Nancy Freedman Nancy Mars Freedman (born July 4, 1920, in Evanston, Illinois, died August 10, 2010, in Greenbrae, California) was an American feminist novelist, the co-author of ''Mrs. Mike''.. Life Upbringing Freedman (née Nancy Mars) was a professional chil ...

in 1940, when she was trying to break into acting. They married in 1941 despite her poor health; during the war Freedman continued to write, but also worked as an aeronautical engineer for

Hughes Aircraft The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting p ...

. The couple wrote their 1947 novel, ''

'', based on the real-life adventures of their friend Katherine Mary Flannigan who married a

Mountie The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

and moved from Boston to the Canadian wilderness. It became a bestseller and inspired a 1950 film adaptation. The two Freedmans wrote nine more novels together, and Freedman also continued to write for the entertainment industry, including credits in 1960 for the television show ''

My Favorite Martian ''My Favorite Martian'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1963, to May 1, 1966, for 107 episodes. The show stars Ray Walston as "Uncle Martin" (the Martian) and Bill Bixby as Tim O'Hara. The first two seasons, totaling ...

''.

Mathematics

In his 40s, Freedman began studying mathematics. He earned a bachelor's degree and a Ph.D. from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in 1968 and 1970 respectively; his thesis, on the topic of

intuitionistic logic Intuitionistic logic, sometimes more generally called constructive logic, refers to systems of symbolic logic that differ from the systems used for classical logic by more closely mirroring the notion of constructive proof. In particular, systems ...

, was supervised by

Yiannis N. Moschovakis Yiannis Nicholas Moschovakis ( el, Γιάννης Μοσχοβάκης; born January 18, 1938) is a set theorist, descriptive set theorist, and recursion (computability) theorist, at UCLA. His book ''Descriptive Set Theory'' (North-Holland) is ...

. On earning his doctorate, he joined the Occidental faculty, where he also came to head the general studies program. He retired in 1995.

Family

Freedman's son,

Michael Freedman Michael Hartley Freedman (born April 21, 1951) is an American mathematician, at Microsoft Station Q, a research group at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1986, he was awarded a Fields Medal for his work on the 4-dimensional gen ...

, is also a noted mathematician, and they have collaborated.. Freedman's two daughters also work in academia as a musician at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and as the director of the medical humanities program at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

. He died in 2012 in

Corte Madera, California Corte Madera (; Spanish for "Chop Wood") is an incorporated town in Marin County, California. Corte Madera is located south of San Rafael, at an elevation of 39 feet (12 m). The population was 10,222 at the 2020 census. The town was named after ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freedman, Benedict 1919 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American radio writers Jewish American writers American television writers American male television writers 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Mathematical logicians University of California, Los Angeles alumni Occidental College faculty Columbia University alumni Novelists from New York (state) American male screenwriters 20th-century American male writers Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from California 21st-century American Jews