Erwin Otto Kreyszig (6 January 1922 in

Pirna Pirna (; , ) is a town in Saxony, Germany and capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 37,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as a ''Große ...

, Germany – 12 December 2008) was a German Canadian

applied 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 One ...

and the Professor of Mathematics at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Canada. He was a pioneer in the field of

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematics, mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and Industrial sector, industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a ...

: non-wave replicating

linear system In systems theory, a linear system is a mathematical model of a system based on the use of a linear operator. Linear systems typically exhibit features and properties that are much simpler than the nonlinear case. As a mathematical abstractio ...

s. He was also a distinguished author, having written the

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...

''Advanced Engineering Mathematics'', the leading textbook for civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering undergraduate engineering mathematics. Kreyszig received his PhD degree in 1949 at the University of Darmstadt under the supervision of Alwin Walther. He then continued his research activities at the universities of

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

and

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

. Prior to joining Carleton University in 1984, he held positions at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

(1954/1955), the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

(1955/1956),

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

(1956–1960, professor 1957) and he completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

at the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

. In 1960 he became professor at the Technical University of Graz and organized the Graz 1964 Mathematical Congress. He worked at the

University of Düsseldorf A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

(1967–1971) and at the

University of Karlsruhe The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; ) is both a German public university, public research university in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, and a research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 when the University of Ka ...

(1971–1973). From 1973 through 1984 he worked at the

University of Windsor The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...

and since 1984 he had been at Carleton University. He was awarded the title of Distinguished Research Professor in 1991 in recognition of a research career during which he published 176 papers in refereed journals, and 37 in refereed conference proceedings. Kreyszig was also an administrator, developing a Computer Centre at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...

, and at the Mathematics Institute at the

. In 1964, he took a leave of absence from Graz to initiate a doctoral program in mathematics at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. Kreyszig authored 14 books, including ''Advanced Engineering Mathematics'', which was published in its 10th edition in 2011. He supervised 104 master's and 22 doctoral students as well as 12 postdoctoral researchers. Together with his son he founded the ''Erwin and Herbert Kreyszig Scholarship'' which has funded graduate students since 2001.

Books

*''Statistische Methoden und ihre Anwendungen'', Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 1965. *''Introduction to Differential Geometry and Riemannian Geometry (English Translation)'', University of Toronto Press, 1968. *(with Kracht, Manfred): ''Methods of Complex Analysis in Partial Differential Equations with Applications'', Wiley, 1988, . *''Introductory Functional Analysis with Applications'', Wiley, 1989, . *''Differentialgeometrie''. Leipzig 1957; engl. ''Differential Geometry'', Dover, 1991, . *''Advanced Engineering Mathematics'', Wiley, (First edition 1962; ninth edition 2006, ; tenth edition (posthumous) 2011, ).

Literature

*
Obituary by Martin Muldoon

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kreyszig, Erwin Canadian mathematicians 20th-century German mathematicians 21st-century German mathematicians Academic staff of Carleton University 1922 births 2008 deaths Functional analysts German textbook writers Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni German emigrants to Canada Canadian textbook writers