Michael Spivak
Michael David Spivak (born 1940 in Queens, New York) is a mathematician specializing in differential geometry, an expositor of mathematics, and the founder of Publish-or-Perish Press. He is the author of the five-volume A Comprehensive Introduction to Differential Geometry. He received a Ph.D. from Princeton University under the supervision of John Milnor in 1964[citation needed].
His book Calculus takes a very rigorous and theoretical approach to introductory calculus[according to whom?]. It is used in calculus courses, particularly those with a pure mathematics emphasis, at many universities[citation needed].
Spivak has also written The Joy of TeX: A Gourmet Guide to Typesetting With the AMS-TeX Macro Package and The Hitchhiker's Guide to Calculus. The famous book Morse Theory, by John Milnor, was based on lecture notes by Spivak and Robert Wells[citation needed]. Spivak's book Calculus on Manifolds (often referred to as little Spivak) is also rather infamous as being one of the most difficult undergraduate mathematics textbooks[according to whom?].
Spivak has lectured on elementary physics.[1] His most recent book, Physics for Mathematicians: Mechanics I, which contains the material that these lectures stemmed from and more, was published on December 6, 2010.[2]
In each of his books Spivak has hidden references to yellow pigs, an idea he apparently came up with at a bar while drinking with David C. Kelly[citation needed].
Contents |
[edit] Bibliography
- Calculus on Manifolds: A Modern Approach to Classical Theorems of Advanced Calculus, (1965)
- Calculus, (1967, 4th ed. 2008)
- A Comprehensive Introduction to Differential Geometry, (1979, 3rd ed. 1999)
- The Joy of TeX: A Gourmet Guide to Typesetting with the AMS-TeX Macro package, (1990)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to Calculus, (1995)
- Physics for Mathematicians: Mechanics I, (2010)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Videos of Spivak's 2004 Pathway Lectures at Keio University and the text for Elementary mechanics from a mathematician's viewpoint.
- ^ "Physics for Mathematicians, Mechanics I". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Mathematicians-Mechanics-Michael-Spivak/dp/0914098322/. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
[edit] External links
- Publish or Perish, Inc., company owned by Spivak
- 17 (Seventeen) and Yellow Pigs
- Michael Spivak @ Everything2.com
- Michael Spivak at the Mathematics Genealogy Project.
