Walter Helbig Gottschalk (November 3, 1918 – February 15, 2004) was an American mathematician, one of the founders of
topological dynamics In mathematics, topological dynamics is a branch of the theory of dynamical systems in which qualitative, asymptotic properties of dynamical systems are studied from the viewpoint of general topology.
Scope
The central object of study in topolo ...
.
Biography
Gottschalk was born in
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch, the city's population was 79,009 at the 2020 census. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mounta ...
, on November 3, 1918, and moved to
Salem, Virginia
Salem is an independent city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,346. It is the county seat of Roanoke County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combin ...
as a child.
[About the author](_blank)
Gottschalk's Gestalts, retrieved 2012-11-21.
Salem Educational Foundation and Alumni Association Hall of Fame, retrieved 2012-11-21. His father, Carl Gottschalk,
was a German immigrant who worked as a machinist and later owned several small businesses in Salem; his younger brother,
Carl W. Gottschalk Carl William Gottschalk (April 28, 1922 – October 15, 1997) was the Kenan Professor and Distinguished Research Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gottschalk made important discoveries about the function o ...
, became a notable medical researcher.
Gottschalk did both his undergraduate studies and graduate studies at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
, finishing with a Ph.D. in 1944 under the supervision of
Gustav A. Hedlund.
After graduating, he joined the faculty of the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
, and was chair of the Pennsylvania mathematics department from 1954 to 1958.
In the academic year 1947/1948 he was a visiting scholar at the
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...
. At Pennsylvania, his doctoral students included
Philip Rabinowitz, who became known for his work in
numerical analysis
Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation (as opposed to symbolic manipulations) for the problems of mathematical analysis (as distinguished from discrete mathematics). It is the study of numerical methods ...
, and
Robert Ellis, who became known for his work on topological dynamics.
Gottschalk moved to
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...
in 1963; at Wesleyan, he also served two terms as chair before retiring in 1982.
He died on February 15, 2004, in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
, where he had lived since his retirement.
Contributions
Gottschalk and his advisor Gustav Hedlund wrote the 1955 monograph ''Topological Dynamics''.
[.] Other research contributions of Gottschalk include the first study of
surjunctive group
In mathematics, a surjunctive group is a group such that every injective cellular automaton with the group elements as its cells is also surjective. Surjunctive groups were introduced by . It is unknown whether every group is surjunctive.
Definit ...
s and a short proof of the
De Bruijn–Erdős theorem on
coloring infinite graphs.
As well as being a research mathematician, Gottschalk also put on two exhibits of mathematical sculptures in the 1960s.
Awards and honors
Gottschalk was a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
.
Selected publications
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*.
*.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gottschalk, Walter Helbig
1918 births
2004 deaths
20th-century American mathematicians
University of Virginia alumni
University of Pennsylvania faculty
Wesleyan University faculty
Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American people of German descent