Jerry Lloyd Bona (born February 5, 1945) is an American mathematician, known for his work in

fluid mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasma (physics), plasmas) and the forces on them. Originally applied to water (hydromechanics), it found applications in a wide range of discipl ...

partial differential equations 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 how ...

, and

computational mathematics Computational mathematics is the study of the interaction between mathematics and calculations done by a computer.National Science Foundation, Division of Mathematical ScienceProgram description PD 06-888 Computational Mathematics 2006. Retri ...

, and active in some other branches of pure and applied mathematics. Bona received his PhD in 1971 from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

under supervision of

Garrett Birkhoff Garrett Birkhoff (January 19, 1911 – November 22, 1996) was an American mathematician. He is best known for his work in lattice theory. The mathematician George Birkhoff (1884–1944) was his father. Life The son of the mathematician Ge ...

and worked from 1970 to 1972 at the Fluid Mechanics Research Institute

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

, where along with

Brooke Benjamin Thomas Brooke Benjamin, FRS (15 April 1929 – 16 August 1995) was an English mathematical physicist and mathematician, best known for his work in mathematical analysis and fluid mechanics, especially in applications of nonlinear differential ...

and J. J. Mahony, he published on Model Equations for Long Waves in Non-linear Dispersive Systems, known as

Benjamin–Bona–Mahony equation The Benjamin–Bona–Mahony equation (BBM equation, also regularized long-wave equation; RLWE) is the partial differential equation :u_t+u_x+uu_x-u_=0.\, This equation was studied in as an improvement of the Korteweg–de Vries equation (KdV e ...

. He is probably best known for his statement about equivalent statements of the

Axiom of Choice In mathematics, the axiom of choice, abbreviated AC or AoC, is an axiom of set theory. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection of non-empty sets, it is possible to construct a new set by choosing one element from e ...

: “The Axiom of Choice is obviously true, the Well–ordering theorem is obviously false; and who can tell about Zorn’s Lemma?" Jerry Bona has worked at

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

and is a Professor of Mathematics at the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

. In 2012 he became a 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, ...

. In 2013 he became a fellow of the

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is a professional society dedicated to applied mathematics, computational science, and data science through research, publications, and community. SIAM is the world's largest scientific soci ...

.SIAM Fellows
retrieved 2014-2-14.

Quotes

This is a joke: although the three are all mathematically equivalent, many mathematicians find the axiom of choice to be intuitive, the well-ordering principle to be counterintuitive, and Zorn's lemma to be too complex for any intuition.

Selected publications

*with S. M. Sun and Bing-Yu Zhang:

References

External links

Jerry Bona Web-site at University of Illinois at Chicago
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bona, Jerry L. 1945 births Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Harvard University alumni University of Chicago faculty University of Texas at Austin faculty University of Illinois Chicago faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Mathematicians from Arkansas

Quotes

Selected publications

See also

References

External links