Richard Paul McGehee (born 20 September 1943 in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
) is an American mathematician, who works on
dynamical system
In mathematics, a dynamical system is a system in which a Function (mathematics), function describes the time dependence of a Point (geometry), point in an ambient space, such as in a parametric curve. Examples include the mathematical models ...
s with special emphasis on
celestial mechanics
Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of objects in outer space. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics (classical mechanics) to astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, to ...
.
McGehee received from
Caltech
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...
in 1964 his bachelor's degree and from
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
in 1965 his master's degree and in 1969 his Ph.D. under
Charles C. Conley
Charles Cameron Conley (26 September 1933 – 20 November 1984) was an American mathematician who worked on dynamical systems.
The Conley index theory and the Conley–Zehnder theorem are named after him.
Early life and education
Conley was born ...
with thesis ''Homoclinic orbits in the restricted three body problem''. As a postdoc he was at the
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (commonly known as Courant or CIMS) is the mathematics research school of New York University (NYU). Founded in 1935, it is named after Richard Courant, one of the founders of the Courant Institute ...
of
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
. In 1970, he became an assistant professor and in 1979 a full professor at the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, where he was from 1994 to 1998 the director of the Center for the Computation and Visualization of Geometric Structures. He has been at the University of Minnesota since 1970.
In the 1970s, he introduced a coordinate transformation (now known as the
McGehee transformation) which he used to regularize singularities arising in the Newtonian
three-body problem
In physics, specifically classical mechanics, the three-body problem is to take the initial positions and velocities (or momenta) of three point masses orbiting each other in space and then calculate their subsequent trajectories using Newton' ...
. In 1975, he, with
John N. Mather
John Norman Mather (June 9, 1942 – January 28, 2017) was a mathematician at Princeton University known for his work on singularity theory and Hamiltonian dynamics.
Biography
He was descended from Atherton Mather (1663–1734), a cousin of ...
, proved that for the Newtonian collinear four-body problem there exist solutions which become unbounded in a finite time interval.
In 1978, he was an Invited Speaker on the subject of ''Singularities in classical celestial mechanics'' at the
International Congress of Mathematicians
The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU).
The Fields Medals, the IMU Abacus Medal (known before ...
in
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
.
See also
*
McGehee transformation
Selected publications
*
*
*with Robert A. Armstrong:
*
*
*
*as editor with Kenneth R. Meyer:
References
External links
Richard McGehee's Publication List, umn.edu
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGehee, Richard
20th-century American mathematicians
21st-century American mathematicians
California Institute of Technology alumni
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
University of Minnesota faculty
1943 births
Living people