Rolando Basim Chuaqui Kettlun (December 30, 1935–April 23, 1994) was a Chilean

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 ...

who worked on the foundations of probabilities and foundations of mathematics. Throughout his lifetime, he published two books and over 50 journal articles in mathematics and logic. He also spearheaded the creation and expansion of mathematics departments across multiple Chilean universities.

Biography

Chuaqui was born into a

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

immigrant family from

Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. He entered the

University of Chile The University of Chile () is a public university, public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

in 1953 to study medicine. He obtained a Ph.D. in Logic and the Methodology of Science, an interdisciplinary program between the Department of Mathematics and Department of Philosophy, from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1965. His doctoral advisor was

David Blackwell David Harold Blackwell (April 24, 1919 – July 8, 2010) was an American statistician and mathematician who made significant contributions to game theory, probability theory, information theory, and statistics. He is one of the eponyms of the ...

. Chuaqui returned to Chile after graduating, serving as a professor at the University of Chile and then the

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (UC Chile; ) is a traditional private university based in Santiago, Chile. It is one of the thirteen Catholic universities existing in Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical univ ...

. During his time at the Pontifical Catholic, he advised three doctoral students. Chuaqui held several visiting positions, including at UCLA (1967),

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

(1970),

University of São Paulo The Universidade de São Paulo (, USP) is a public research university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, and the largest public university in Brazil. The university was founded on 25 January 1934, regrouping already existing schools in ...

(1971 and 1982),

(1973–74),

University of Campinas The University of Campinas (), commonly called Unicamp, is a public research university in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil. Established in 1962, Unicamp was designed from scratch as an integrated Research institute, researc ...

(1976, 1977 and 1978),

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 ...

(1984), and

San José State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State Universit ...

(1986-89). He was a long-term collaborator of

Patrick Suppes Patrick Colonel Suppes (; March 17, 1922 – November 17, 2014) was an American philosopher who made significant contributions to philosophy of science, the theory of measurement, the foundations of quantum mechanics, decision theory, psycholog ...

, with whom he worked on non-standard analysis and measurement in sciences. In 1986, he proposed a mathematical formulation for pragmatic truth.

Honors and awards

He was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in Mathematics in 1983. Since 1999, a series of annual research conferences in Chile, known as the ''Jornadas Rolando Chuaqui Kettlun'', is held in his memory. The

also has a building named after him, which houses its Department of Mathematics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chuaqui, Rolando 1935 births 1994 deaths University of California, Los Angeles faculty Princeton University faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty Academic staff of the State University of Campinas Stanford University Department of Mathematics faculty San Jose State University faculty Scientists from Santiago, Chile 20th-century Chilean mathematicians Chilean people of Syrian descent 20th-century Syrian scientists Syrian mathematicians