Max Krook (1913 – 4 August 1985) was an American mathematician and astrophysicist.
''The New York Times'', 10 August 1985 (accessed 12 June 2008). Krook was born in

Standerton Standerton is a large commercial and agricultural town lying on the banks of the Vaal River in Mpumalanga, South Africa, which specialises in cattle, dairy, maize and poultry farming. The town was established in 1876 and named after Boer leader Co ...

, South Africa, the son of Pesach Israel Krook and Leah Krook.Geni, "Max Krook"
/ref> An undergraduate at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

, Krook received a doctorate in mathematics from

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in England in 1938 under the supervision of

Arthur Eddington Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington (28 December 1882 – 22 November 1944) was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also a philosopher of science and a populariser of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the lum ...

. He was subsequently recruited to

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

Rudolf Peierls Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls, (; ; 5 June 1907 – 19 September 1995) was a German-born British physicist who played a major role in Tube Alloys, Britain's nuclear weapon programme, as well as the subsequent Manhattan Project, the combined Allied ...

. Krook came to the United States in 1950 as a research associate in physics at the Indiana University, soon moving to the

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a research institute of the Smithsonian Institution, concentrating on astrophysical studies including galactic and extragalactic astronomy, cosmology, solar, earth and planetary sciences, the ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most ...

. He was additionally appointed a research fellow at the

Harvard College Observatory The Harvard College Observatory (HCO) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United S ...

in 1952. In 1956, he became a lecturer in astronomy, and, in 1959, a professor in the Harvard's Division of Applied Sciences and the department of astronomy. Robert May (later, Baron May of Oxford) was one of his first postdoctoral students. Krook was for decades a regular at Cambridge's

Legal Sea Foods Legal Sea Foods is an American restaurant chain of casual-dining seafood restaurants mostly located in the Northeastern region of the United States. The current company headquarters is located in the South Boston Seaport District and as of 2022 ...

restaurant, where a particular table was often held for him at lunchtime. Krook married Gulielma Penn-Gaskel White, 1952 graduate of

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

, and later successful photographer, in 1956. Although ultimately divorced, they continued to share a residence in

Arlington, Massachusetts Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census. History European colonists settled the Town of Arlington in 1635 as a village ...

until the time of his death.SheltiesOnLine.com, "Memorial: Gulielma Penn-Gaskel White Krook, 76, photographed shelties and collies"
/ref> Krook is remembered for his contribution to the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook model.

Selected works

* ''Functions of a Complex Variable: Theory and Technique'', by George F. Carrier, Max Krook, and Carl E. Pearson, SIAM, 2005, (first edition: McGraw-Hill, 1966, ). *

References

1985 deaths 20th-century American physicists 1913 births University of the Witwatersrand alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge People from Standerton Academics of the University of Birmingham Indiana University people Harvard College Observatory people Harvard University faculty People from Arlington, Massachusetts Mathematicians from Massachusetts South African emigrants to the United States {{US-scientist-stub