I. Martin Isaacs
Template:Short description Template:Infobox scientist Irving Martin Isaacs (April 14, 1940 – February 17, 2025) was an American group theorist and representation theorist. He was a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Biography
Isaacs was born in the Bronx, in New York City, on April 14, 1940.[1][2] He received a BS from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1960.[2] While a student there, he was named a Putnam Fellow for his performance in the 1959 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition.[3]
Isaacs went on to Harvard University for graduate study. He received a master's degree in 1961,[2] and completed his PhD in 1964. His thesis was advised by Richard Brauer,[4] and was titled Finite -solvable linear groups.[5] After a few years at the University of Chicago as an instructor and visiting assistant professor, Isaacs moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1969.[2] He was hired as an associate professor, and promoted to full professor in 1971.[2] According to the Mathematics Genealogy Project, he supervised 29 doctoral students over his career.[4]
In 2011, Isaacs retired and became a professor emeritus.[6][7][8] In retirement, he lived in Berkeley, California and was an occasional participant on MathOverflow.[8] Near the end of his life, he endowed a prize for "Excellence in Mathematical Writing," first awarded in 2025.[1][9]
Work
Isaacs is known as the author of graduate-level textbooks on character theory and group theory.[6] His book Character Theory of Finite Groups has been described as a classic in the field.[10]
Isaacs is also known for formulating the Isaacs–Navarro conjecture along with Gabriel Navarro, a widely cited generalization of the McKay conjecture.[11][12]
Personal life
Isaacs was seriously injured in an automobile accident in France in 1964, shortly after receiving his PhD. The accident left him scarred and disabled.[1][6]
He died of kidney failure on February 17, 2025.[1][6]
Awards and honors
In 2009, a conference was held at the Universitat de Valencia in Spain to honor his contributions.[13] Following the conference, a festschrift was published by the American Mathematical Society.[14]
Isaacs was the recipient of a Sloan Foundation research award in 1971.[6] He was inaugurated as a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2013.[15]
Isaacs was a Pólya lecturer for the Mathematical Association of America between 2003 and 2005.[6]
Books
- Template:Cite book (reprinted by Dover Publications in 1994, reprinted by the American Mathematical Society in 2006 Template:Isbn)[16][10]
- Template:Cite book (reprinted by the American Mathematical Society in 2009 Template:Isbn)[17]
- Template:Cite book (reprinted by the American Mathematical Society in 2009 Template:Isbn)[18]
- Template:Cite book 2011 reprint with corrections[19]
- Template:Cite book[20]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Template:Cite web
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Template:Cite book
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- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite thesis
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Template:Cite journal
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Template:Cite web
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- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite journal
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite book
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite journal
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- ↑ Template:Cite web
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- 20th-century American mathematicians
- 21st-century American mathematicians
- 1940 births
- 2025 deaths
- Group theorists
- Putnam Fellows
- Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni
- Harvard University alumni
- University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty
- Writers from Wisconsin
- Fellows of the American Mathematical Society