Wolfgang Haken (June 21, 1928 – October 2, 2022) was a
German American
German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...
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 ...
who specialized in
topology
In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ...
, in particular
3-manifold
In mathematics, a 3-manifold is a space that locally looks like Euclidean 3-dimensional space. A 3-manifold can be thought of as a possible shape of the universe. Just as a sphere looks like a plane to a small enough observer, all 3-manifolds lo ...
s.
Biography
Haken was born in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
. His father was Werner Haken, a physicist who had
Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...
as a doctoral thesis advisor. In 1953, Haken earned a Ph.D. degree in mathematics from
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (Kiel University) and married Anna-Irmgard von Bredow, who earned a Ph.D. degree in mathematics from the same university in 1959. In 1962, they left Germany so he could accept a position as visiting professor at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...
. He became a full professor in 1965, retiring in 1998.
In 1976, together with colleague
Kenneth Appel at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...
, Haken solved the
four-color theorem. They proved that any two-dimensional map, with certain limitations, can be filled in with four colors without any adjacent “countries” sharing the same color. Haken has introduced several ideas, including
Haken manifold
In mathematics, a Haken manifold is a compact, P²-irreducible 3-manifold that is sufficiently large, meaning that it contains a properly embedded two-sided incompressible surface. Sometimes one considers only orientable Haken manifolds, in whi ...
s,
Kneser-Haken finiteness, and an expansion of the work of
Kneser into a theory of
normal surface In mathematics, a normal surface is a surface inside a triangulated 3-manifold that intersects each tetrahedron so that each component of intersection is a ''triangle'' or a ''quad'' (see figure). A triangle cuts off a vertex of the tetrahedron wh ...
s. Much of his work has an algorithmic aspect, and he is a figure in
algorithmic topology. One of his key contributions to this field is an algorithm to detect if a knot is unknotted.
Haken's eldest son, Armin, proved that there exist
propositional tautologies that require
resolution proofs of exponential size. Haken's eldest daughter,
Dorothea Blostein, is a professor of computer science, known for her discovery of the
master theorem for divide-and-conquer recurrences. Haken’s second son, Lippold, is the inventor of the
Continuum Fingerboard
The Continuum Fingerboard or Haken Continuum is a music performance controller and synthesizer developed by Lippold Haken, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois, and sold by Haken Audio, located in Cha ...
. Haken’s youngest son, Rudolf, is a professor of music, who established the world's first
Electric Strings university degree program at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...
. Wolfgang is the cousin of
Hermann Haken
Hermann Haken (born 12 July 1927) is physicist and professor emeritus in theoretical physics at the University of Stuttgart. He is known as the founder of synergetics. He is a cousin of the mathematician Wolfgang Haken, who proved the Four c ...
, a physicist known for laser theory and synergetics.
In 1978, Haken delivered an
invited address at the International Congress of Mathematicians
This is a list of International Congresses of Mathematicians Plenary and Invited Speakers. Being invited to talk at an International Congress of Mathematicians has been called "the equivalent, in this community, of an induction to a hall of fame." ...
in Helsinki. He was a recipient of the 1979
Fulkerson Prize
The Fulkerson Prize for outstanding papers in the area of discrete mathematics is sponsored jointly by the Mathematical Optimization Society (MOS) and the American Mathematical Society (AMS). Up to three awards of $1,500 each are presented at e ...
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, meeting ...
for his solution with Appel of the
four-color theorem.
Delbert Ray Fulkerson Prize
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, meeting ...
. Accessed May 29, 2011
See also
* Unknotting problem
References
* Haken, W. "Theorie der Normalflachen." ''Acta Math''. 105, 245–375, 1961.
*
External links
Wolfgang Haken memorial website
*
Haken's faculty page at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Wolfgang Haken biography from World of Mathematics
Lippold Haken's life story
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haken, Wolfgang
1928 births
2022 deaths
Topologists
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty
University of Kiel alumni
German emigrants to the United States