Ray Alden Kunze (March 7, 1928 – May 21, 2014) was an American mathematician who chaired the mathematics departments at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

and the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

. His mathematical research concerned the

representation theory Representation theory is a branch of mathematics that studies abstract algebra, abstract algebraic structures by ''representing'' their element (set theory), elements as linear transformations of vector spaces, and studies Module (mathematics), ...

groups A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

and noncommutative harmonic analysis. Kunze was born in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

and grew up near

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

.Dedication to ''Representation theory and harmonic analysis''
pp. ix–x. He began his undergraduate studies at

Denison University Denison University is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio, United States. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. It was first called ...

but transferred to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

after two years, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics. After working as a military mathematical analyst, he returned to the University of Chicago, and earned his Ph.D. in 1957 with a dissertation on

Fourier transformation In mathematics, the Fourier transform (FT) is an integral transform that takes a function as input then outputs another function that describes the extent to which various frequencies are present in the original function. The output of the tr ...

s supervised by

Irving Segal Irving Ezra Segal (1918–1998) was an American mathematician known for work on theoretical quantum mechanics. He shares credit for what is often referred to as the Segal–Shale–Weil representation. Early in his career Segal became known for h ...

.. As well as his positions at UCI and Georgia, he also worked at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

, and

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

. He has over 50 academic descendants, many of them through his students

Paul Sally Paul Joseph Sally, Jr. (January 29, 1933 – December 30, 2013) was a professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago, where he was the director of undergraduate studies for 30 years. His research areas were ''p''-adic analysis and repres ...

at Brandeis and Edward N. Wilson at Washington University. With his advisor

, Kunze was the author of the textbook ''Integrals and Operators'' (McGraw-Hill, 1968; 2nd ed., Grundlehren der Mathematischen Wissenschaften 228, Springer, 1978). With Kenneth M. Hoffman he was the author of ''Linear Algebra'' (Prentice-Hall, 1961; 2nd ed., Pearson, 1971). In 1994, a special session on

and

harmonic analysis Harmonic analysis is a branch of mathematics concerned with investigating the connections between a function and its representation in frequency. The frequency representation is found by using the Fourier transform for functions on unbounded do ...

was held in honor of Kunze as part of the 889th meeting of the American Mathematical Society, and the papers from the session were published as a

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

. In 2012, Kunze was recognized as one of the inaugural

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

s of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

.List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
retrieved 2015-01-26.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunze, Ray Alden 1928 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Group theorists University of Chicago alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Brandeis University faculty Washington University in St. Louis mathematicians University of California, Irvine faculty University of Georgia faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society