David Kent Harrison (6 April 1931, Massachusetts – 21 December 1999,

Barnstable, Massachusetts Barnstable ( ) is a List of municipalities in Massachusetts, town in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the county seat of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County. Barnstable is the largest community, both in land area and population ...

) was an American mathematician, specializing in

algebra Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...

, particularly

homological algebra Homological algebra is the branch of mathematics that studies homology (mathematics), homology in a general algebraic setting. It is a relatively young discipline, whose origins can be traced to investigations in combinatorial topology (a precurs ...

and

valuation theory In algebra (in particular in algebraic geometry or algebraic number theory), a valuation is a function on a field that provides a measure of the size or multiplicity of elements of the field. It generalizes to commutative algebra the notion of siz ...

. He completed his Ph.D. at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1957; his dissertation, titled ''On torsion free abelian groups'', was written under the supervision of

Emil Artin Emil Artin (; March 3, 1898 – December 20, 1962) was an Austrians, Austrian mathematician of Armenians, Armenian descent. Artin was one of the leading mathematicians of the twentieth century. He is best known for his work on algebraic number t ...

. Harrison was a faculty member from 1959 to 1963 at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

and from 1963 to 1993 at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

, retiring there as professor emeritus in 1993. He developed a commutative

cohomology In mathematics, specifically in homology theory and algebraic topology, cohomology is a general term for a sequence of abelian groups, usually one associated with a topological space, often defined from a cochain complex. Cohomology can be viewed ...

theory for commutative algebras. Along with his colleague Marie A. Vitulli, he developed a unified valuation theory for

ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

s with

zero divisor In abstract algebra, an element of a ring is called a left zero divisor if there exists a nonzero in such that , or equivalently if the map from to that sends to is not injective. Similarly, an element of a ring is called a right ze ...

s that generalized both Krull and Archimedean valuations. He was a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

for the academic year 1963–1964. He supervised 28 doctoral students including Joel Cunningham. Ann Hill Harrison endowed the Harrison Memory Award for outstanding mathematical students at the University of Oregon. He is survived by his son, composer and pianist Michael Harrison, a

for the academic year 2018–2019, and his daughter Jo Ellen Harrison.

Selected publications

* * * with J. M. Irwin, C. L. Peercy, and E. A. Walker: * * * with Stephen U. Chase and Alex F. T. W. Rosenberg: * * with Joel Cunningham: * with Hoyt D. Warner: * * * ** * with Cornelius Greither: * with Bodo Pareigis: * with M. A. Vitulli: * with Frank DeMeyer and Rick Miranda: * with C. Greither:

References

External links

* (1955 photograph of, left to right, Charles W. Misner, Hale Trotter,

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (, ; ; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and old quantum theory, quantum theory, for which he received the No ...

Hugh Everett III Hugh Everett III (; November 11, 1930 – July 19, 1982) was an American physicist who proposed the relative state interpretation of quantum mechanics. This influential approach later became the basis of the many-worlds interpretation (MWI). Ev ...

, and David Harrison) * David K. Harrisons'
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on MathSciNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, David Kent 1931 births 1999 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians American algebraists Mathematicians from Massachusetts Princeton University alumni University of Oregon faculty