Tom Mike Apostol (August 20, 1923 – May 8, 2016) was an American analytic number theorist and professor at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, best known as the author of widely used mathematical textbooks.

Life and career

Apostol was born in

Helper, Utah Helper is a city in Carbon County, Utah, Carbon County, Utah, United States, approximately southeast of Salt Lake City and northwest of the city of Price, Utah, Price. The population was 2,201 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The ...

. His parents, Emmanouil Apostolopoulos and Efrosini Papathanasopoulos, were Greek immigrants. Apostolopoulos's name was shortened to Mike Apostol when he obtained his United States citizenship, and Tom Apostol inherited this

Americanized Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of American culture and business on other countries outside the United States of America, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, tech ...

surname. Apostol received his Bachelor of Science in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

in 1944, Master's degree in mathematics from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle ...

in 1946, and a PhD in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1948. Thereafter Apostol was a faculty member at UC Berkeley,

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

, and

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. He was the author of several influential graduate and undergraduate level textbooks. Apostol was the creator and project director for

Project MATHEMATICS! ''Project Mathematics!'' (stylized as ''Project MATHEMATICS!''), is a series of educational video modules and accompanying workbooks for teachers, developed at the California Institute of Technology to help teach basic principles of mathematics to ...

producing videos which explore basic topics in high school mathematics. He helped popularize the visual calculus devised by

Mamikon Mnatsakanian Mamikon A. Mnatsakanian (1942-2021) ( hy, Մամիկոն Մնացականյան) was an Armenian physicist. In 1959, he discovered a new proof of the Pythagorean theorem. He received a Ph.D. in physics in 1969 from Yerevan State University, where ...

with whom he also wrote a number of papers, many of which appeared in the ''

American Mathematical Monthly ''The American Mathematical Monthly'' is a mathematical journal founded by Benjamin Finkel in 1894. It is published ten times each year by Taylor & Francis for the Mathematical Association of America. The ''American Mathematical Monthly'' is an e ...

''. Apostol also provided academic content for an acclaimed video lecture series on introductory physics, '' The Mechanical Universe''. In 2001, Apostol was elected in the Academy of Athens. He received a

Lester R. Ford Award Lester is an ancient Anglo-Saxon surname and given name. Notable people and characters with the name include: People Given name * Lester Bangs (1948–1982), American music critic * Lester W. Bentley (1908–1972), American artist from Wisco ...

in 2005, in 2008, and in 2010. In 2012 he became a fellow 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 2012-11-03.

Bibliography

* ''Mathematical Analysis: A Modern Approach to Advanced Calculus'', (1957) Addison-Wesley, * ''Introduction to Analytic Number Theory'', (1976) Springer-Verlag, New York. * ''Modular Functions and Dirichlet Series in Number Theory'', (1990) Springer-Verlag, New York. * ''Calculus, Volume 1, One-variable calculus, with an introduction to linear algebra'', (1967) Wiley, , * ''Calculus, Volume 2, Multi-variable calculus and linear algebra with applications to differential equations and probability'', (1969) Wiley, * ''The Mechanical Universe: Mechanics and Heat, Advanced Edition'' (with Steven C. Frautschi, Richard P. Olenick, and David L. Goodstein) * ''New Horizons in Geometry'' (with Mamikon Mnatsakanian)

Notes

External links

*
Project MATHEMATICS!
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apostol, Tom M. 1923 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Greek mathematicians Number theorists University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty California Institute of Technology faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society American textbook writers People from Helper, Utah American people of Greek descent Mathematicians from Utah University of Washington College of Engineering alumni Corresponding Members of the Academy of Athens (modern)