Esther Szekeres
Esther Szekeres | |
|---|---|
| Born | Esther Klein February 20, 1910 |
| Died | August 28, 2005 (aged 95) |
| Nationality | Hungarian–Australian |
| Occupation | Mathematician |
| Employer | Macquarie University |
| Known for | Happy ending problem |
| Spouse | George Szekeres |
| Children | 2 |
Esther Szekeres (Hungarian: Klein Eszter; 20 February 1910 – 28 August 2005) was a Hungarian–Australian mathematician.
Biography
Esther Klein was born to Ignaz Klein in a Jewish family in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary in 1910. As a young woman in Budapest, Klein was a member of a group of Hungarians including Paul Erdős, George Szekeres and Pál Turán that convened over interesting mathematical problems.[1]
In 1933, Klein proposed to the group a combinatorial problem that Erdős named as the Happy Ending problem as it led to her marriage to George Szekeres in 1937, with whom she had two children.[2]
Following the outbreak of World War II, Esther and George Szekeres emigrated to Australia after spending several years in Hongkew, a community of refugees located in Shanghai, China.[3] In Australia, they originally settled in Adelaide before moving to Sydney in the 1960s.
In Sydney, Esther lectured at Macquarie University and was actively involved in mathematics enrichment for high-school students. In 1984, she jointly founded a weekly mathematics enrichment meeting that has since expanded into a programme of about 30 groups that continue to meet weekly and inspire high school students throughout Australia and New Zealand.[4]
In 2004, she and George moved back to Adelaide, where, on 28 August 2005, she and her husband died within an hour of each other.[1][2]
References
- ^ a b O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Esther Szekeres", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- ^ a b Cowling, Michael (2005-11-07). "A world of teaching and numbers - times two". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2012-08-11.
- ^ "Shanghai, a city for Jews in China". The Menorah of Fang Bang Lu. Archived from the original on 2010-08-13. Retrieved 2005-08-30.
- ^ Taylor, Peter (2005-12). "Szekeres Obituary". Australian Mathematics Trust. Retrieved 2012-08-11.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)