Jump to content

Alexander Soifer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 109.153.13.180 (talk) at 12:12, 4 February 2014 (Spam out). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Alexander Soifer
Alexander Soifer, October, 2007, Colorado
Born
Alexander Soifer

(1948-08-14) August 14, 1948 (age 76)
Alma materMoscow State Pedagogical University
Occupation(s)Professor, Author
Scientific career
Doctoral advisorLeonid Kulikov; Pál Erdős

Alexander Soifer is a Russian-born American mathematician and mathematics author. His works include about 300 articles, and about 10 books.

Soifer received his Ph.D. in 1973.[1] Soifer has been a professor of mathematics at the University of Colorado since 1979. He was visiting fellow at Princeton University 2002–2004, and again 2006–2007. Soifer also teaches courses on European cinema. Soifer's Erdős number is 1.

Every spring, Soifer, along with other mathematician colleagues, sponsor the Colorado Mathematical Olympiad (CMO) at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Soifer compiles (and writes some of) the problems for the contest. The CMO was started on April 18, 1983.

In 1991 Soifer founded the research quarterly "Geombinatorics", and publishes it with the Editorial Board, which includes Ronald L. Graham, Branko Grünbaum, Heiko Harborth, Peter D. Johnson Jr., and János Pach. Paul Erdős was also an editor.

In July 2006 at the University of Cambridge, Alexander Soifer was presented with "The Paul Erdos" Award" by the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions.

Soifer is currently the President of the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions.

Soifer's current projects include new publications and new expanded editions through scientific publisher, Springer of previously published books, "Mathematics as Problem Solving," "How does one cut a triangle?," "Geometric Etudes in Combinatorial Mathematics," and "Colorado Mathematical Olympiad: The First Ten Years and Further Explorations." The latter aforementioned title is expected to be expanded to cover twenty years of the Colorado Mathematical Olympiad, which is currently in its 26th year running.

Soifer is the father of four children Mark Soifer, Julia Soifer, Isabelle Soifer and Leon Soifer.

Selected Books

  • Life and Fate: In Search of Van der Waerden, appeared in November 2008 in Russian. This book is the report of a 12-year historical investigation into the life of the great 20th-century algebraist Bartel Leendert van der Waerden, the author of one of the most popular mathematical books of all time, Modern Algebra. The expanded English edition is to be published by Birkhäuser-Springer in 2014.

Books in Progress

  • “Life and Fate: In Search of Van der Waerden,” Birkhäuser-Springer, Basel, to appear in 2014
  • “Problems of pgom Erdös,” Springer, New York, to appear in 2015
  • “Memory in Flashback: A Mathematician’s Adventures on Both Sides of the Atlantic,” Birkhäuser-Springer, Basel, to appear in 2016
  • “Colorado Mathematical Olympiad: The Third Decade and Further Explorations,” Springer

References

Template:Persondata