Donald John Lewis (25 January 1926 – 25 February 2015), better known as D.J. Lewis, was an American

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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

specializing in

number theory Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...

. Lewis received his PhD in 1950 at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

under supervision of Richard Dagobert Brauer, and subsequently was an NSF fellow 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 ...

in Princeton (1952–1953), an NSF senior fellow (1959–1961), a senior visiting fellow at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

(1965, 1969), a visiting fellow at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

(1976), and Humboldt Awardee (1980, 1983). He chaired the Department of Mathematics at the University of Michigan (1984-1994), and served as director of the Division of Mathematical Sciences at the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

(NSF). He was long active in 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, ...

(AMS), and in 1995 received its Distinguished Public Service Award.

References

* ''Notices of the American Mathematical Society'', volume 42, number 6 (June 1995) 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American number theorists University of Michigan alumni University of Michigan faculty 1926 births 2015 deaths {{US-mathematician-stub