Joseph Fels Ritt (August 23, 1893 – January 5, 1951) was an American
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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
at
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
in the early 20th century. He was born and died in New York.
Biography
After beginning his undergraduate studies at
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...
, Ritt received his B.A. from
George Washington University
The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...
in 1913. He then earned a doctorate in mathematics from Columbia University in 1917 under the supervision of
Edward Kasner
Edward Kasner (April 2, 1878 – January 7, 1955) was an American mathematician who was appointed Tutor on Mathematics in the Columbia University Mathematics Department. Kasner was the first Jewish person appointed to a faculty position in ...
. After doing calculations for the war effort in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he joined the Columbia faculty in 1921. He served as department chair from 1942 to 1945, and in 1945 became the Davies Professor of Mathematics.
[.] In 1932, George Washington University honored him with a Doctorate in Science,
[.] and in 1933 he was elected to join the
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
.
He has 905
academic descendants listed in the
Mathematics Genealogy Project
The Mathematics Genealogy Project (MGP) is a web-based database for the academic genealogy of mathematicians.. it contained information on 300,152 mathematical scientists who contributed to research-level mathematics. For a typical mathematicia ...
, mostly through his student
Ellis Kolchin, as of May 2024. Ritt was an Invited Speaker with talk ''Elementary functions and their inverses'' at the
ICM in 1924 in Toronto and a Plenary Speaker at the ICM in 1950 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Ritt founded
differential algebra
In mathematics, differential algebra is, broadly speaking, the area of mathematics consisting in the study of differential equations and differential operators as algebraic objects in view of deriving properties of differential equations and op ...
theory, which was subsequently much developed by him and his student Ellis Kolchin.
He is known for his work on characterizing the
indefinite integral
In calculus, an antiderivative, inverse derivative, primitive function, primitive integral or indefinite integral of a continuous function is a differentiable function whose derivative is equal to the original function . This can be stated s ...
s that can be solved in closed form, for his work on the theory of
ordinary differential equation
In mathematics, an ordinary differential equation (ODE) is a differential equation (DE) dependent on only a single independent variable (mathematics), variable. As with any other DE, its unknown(s) consists of one (or more) Function (mathematic ...
s and
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, for beginning the study of
differential algebraic group In mathematics, a differential algebraic group is a differential algebraic variety with a compatible group
A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together.
Groups of people
* Cultural group, a group who ...
s,
and for the method of
characteristic sets used in the solution of systems of polynomial equations.
Despite his great achievements, he was never awarded any prize for his work, a fact which he resented, as he felt he was underappreciated. He once composed the following epitaph for himself:
:Here at your feet J. F. Ritt lies;
:He never won the
Bôcher prize Bocher is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Christiane Bøcher (1798–1874), Norwegian stage actress who was engaged at the Christiania Offentlige Theater
* Édouard Bocher (1811–1900), French politician who was one of the fou ...
.
Selected works
*
Differential equations from the algebraic standpoint', New York, American Mathematical Society 1932
* ''Theory of Functions'', New York 1945, 1947
* ''Integration in finite terms: Liouville's Theory of Elementary Methods'', Columbia University Press 1948
* ''Differential Algebra'', American Mathematical Society 1950,
Dover 1966
See also
*
Ritt characteristic set
*
Ritt theorem
In mathematics, exponential polynomials are functions on fields, rings, or abelian groups that take the form of polynomials in a variable and an exponential function.
Definition In fields
An exponential polynomial generally has both a variable ...
*
Ritt's polynomial decomposition theorem
In mathematics, a polynomial decomposition expresses a polynomial ''f'' as the functional composition g \circ h of polynomials ''g'' and ''h'', where ''g'' and ''h'' have degree greater than 1; it is an algebraic functional decomposition. Algorit ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritt, Joseph
1893 births
1951 deaths
20th-century American mathematicians
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Columbia University faculty
Mathematicians from New York City