Glen Earl Baxter (March 19, 1930 – March 30, 1983) was an American mathematician.
Baxter's fields of research include
probability theory
Probability theory or probability calculus is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expre ...
,
combinatorial analysis
Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and as an end to obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many ap ...
,
statistical mechanics
In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. Sometimes called statistical physics or statistical thermodynamics, its applicati ...
and
functional analysis
Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (for example, Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics ...
. He is known for the
Baxter strong limit theorem. Lately, his 1960 work on the derivation of a specific operator identity that later bore his name, the
Rota–Baxter identity, and emanated from some of the fundamental results of the famous probabilist
Frank Spitzer
Frank Ludvig Spitzer (July 24, 1926 – February 1, 1992) was an Austrian-born, Jewish-American mathematician who was a longtime professor at Cornell University and made fundamental contributions to probability theory, especially the theory of ra ...
in
random walk theory
In mathematics, a random walk, sometimes known as a drunkard's walk, is a stochastic process that describes a path that consists of a succession of random steps on some mathematical space.
An elementary example of a random walk is the random ...
has received attention in fields as remote as
renormalization
Renormalization is a collection of techniques in quantum field theory, statistical field theory, and the theory of self-similar geometric structures, that is used to treat infinities arising in calculated quantities by altering values of the ...
theory in perturbative
quantum field theory
In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines Field theory (physics), field theory and the principle of relativity with ideas behind quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct phy ...
.
In 1983 the Glen E. Baxter Memorial Fund was established by family and friends at
Purdue University
Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...
.
[Purdue University (Department of Statistics): ]
Recipients of the Baxter Award
'
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baxter, Glen E
1930 births
1983 deaths
20th-century American mathematicians