Donald Aronson (October 2, 1929 – April 17, 2019) was an American mathematician at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. He was an Elected 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, ...

Early life

Don Aronson was born on October 2, 1929, in

Jersey City, NJ Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

. Despite his humble beginnings, or perhaps because of them, he went on to attend the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

after high school. He earned all his degrees — BS, MS, and PhD — from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, completing the last one in 1956. His thesis, titled "Boundary Layer Problem for a Liner Parabolic Differential Equation," was written under the guidance of the renowned

Norman Levinson Norman Levinson (August 11, 1912 in Lynn, Massachusetts – October 10, 1975 in Boston) was an American mathematician. Some of his major contributions were in the study of Fourier transforms, complex analysis, non-linear differential equations, ...

. While still a graduate student in 1954, he secured a summer position as a Scientific Officer at the National Research Development Council (NRDC) in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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. During this time, he programmed the

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer ...

-designed Ferranti Mark I computer, recognized as the world's first supercomputer. Additionally, he collaborated with

Christopher Strachey Christopher S. Strachey (; 16 November 1916 – 18 May 1975) was a British computer scientist. He was one of the founders of denotational semantics, and a pioneer in programming language design and computer time-sharing.F. J. Corbató, et al., T ...

to simulate the proposed

Ferranti Pegasus Pegasus was an early British vacuum-tube (valve) computer built by Ferranti Ltd that pioneered design features to improve usability for both engineers and programmers. It was originally named the Ferranti Package Computer as its hardware desig ...

, which was eventually constructed in 1956.

Work

His initial job was with the Digital Computer Lab at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign (UIUC). His role as a

Research Associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Bachelor's degree such as a master's degree or a PhD. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical Scho ...

there was brief lasting only a year. In 1956, he made a move to the

, joining the Department of Mathematics at the then Institute of Technology(now College of Science and Engineering). Don started as an instructor for a year, progressing to

Assistant Professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

from 1958 to 1962. Impressively, he achieved the rank of

Full Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

in 1965, a mere seven years since his initial tenure-track appointment. Aronson contributed to various domains within

partial differential equation In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which involves a multivariable function and one or more of its partial derivatives. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" that solves the equation, similar to ho ...

s and

nonlinear dynamics In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system (or a non-linear system) is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathem ...

. An examination of his extensive list of publications reveal his involvement in writing papers on nonlinear diffusion, the analytical and computational exploration of bifurcations,

pattern formation The science of pattern formation deals with the visible, (statistically) orderly outcomes of self-organization and the common principles behind similar patterns in nature. In developmental biology, pattern formation refers to the generation of c ...

mathematical ecology Theoretical ecology is the scientific discipline devoted to the study of ecological systems using theoretical methods such as simple conceptual models, mathematical models, computational simulations, and advanced data analysis. Effective models ...

, and

mathematical biology Mathematical and theoretical biology, or biomathematics, is a branch of biology which employs theoretical analysis, mathematical models and abstractions of living organisms to investigate the principles that govern the structure, development ...

. Remarkably, Don collaborated with more than 40 co-authors, aligning with his perspective that mathematics research is akin to a "team sport". This collaborative approach underscored his belief in the collective nature of advancing mathematical knowledge.

Honors

In June 2001, a conference titled "Nonlinear Phenomena in Science" took place at the

Free University of Amsterdam The (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the othe ...

, dedicated to honoring Don on his 70th birthday. This event recognized his significant contributions to the field. In 2013, Don achieved further recognition by being elected to the Inaugural Class of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society. Aronson entered retirement in June 2002. Shortly after, he was enlisted by Doug Arnold (IMA Director) and Fadil Santosa (Deputy Director) to serve as the first Director of the IMA Postdoctoral Program. In this capacity, he oversaw the selection of postdocs and facilitated their onboarding upon arrival at the IMA in the Fall. He continued in this role until 2010, contributing his expertise to the development and success of the program.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aronson, Donald 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians 1929 births 2019 deaths Fellows of the American Mathematical Society University of Minnesota faculty