Gian-Carlo Rota
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
April 27, 1932 - April 19, 1999
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Scientific Discipline: Mathematics Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1982)
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Mathematician Gian-Carlo Rota was credited with transforming the field of combinatorial analysis, or combinatorics, from an insignificant area into one of the most important branches of modern mathematics. He reinterpreted the problems of traditional combinatory analysis in terms of the general concepts of algebra, which served as a catalyst for the development of combinatorics. Rota used this redefining to show how Möbius functions, umbral calculus, Whitney’s matroids, and the determination of algebraic invariants were all associated with a familiar and specific kind of algebraic structure, allowing for the systematic derivation of new combinatorial formulas. This research was revolutionary because the consolidation of algebraic structures opposed the continual tendency of mathematics to fragment and it provided systematic methods for applied mathematics to solve problems in unrelated applications. Rota also made contributions in the theory of differential equations, functional analysis, ergodic theory, and philosophy.
Rota attended Princeton University, receiving his B.A. degree in 1953. After graduating, he enrolled at Yale University to earn his M.A. degree in 1954 and his Ph.D. in 1956. He conducted postdoctoral research at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences for two years before becoming the Benjamin Peirce Instructor in Mathematics at Harvard University in 1957. Rota left Harvard in 1959, accepting a position as an assistant professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Aside from teaching mathematics at The Rockefeller University from 1965 to 1967, he continued teaching at MIT for the next forty years, becoming a full professor in 1967. In 1975, Rota became the only MIT faculty member to hold the title of Professor of Applied Mathematics and Philosophy. He served as the founder and editor of three mathematics journals: Journal of Combinatorial Theory (1966), Advances in Mathematics (1967), and Advances in Applied Mathematics (1979). He also was a consultant for The Rand Corporation from 1966 to 1971, the Brookhaven National Laboratory from 1969 to 1973, and Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory from 1966 until his death in 1999. Rota was affiliated with several mathematical organizations, including the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the mathematics section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (chairman in 1988), the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (vice president in 1975), and the American Mathematical Society (vice president from 1995 to 1997). He was the recipient of the American Mathematical Society’s Steele Prize in 1988 and the National Security Agency’s Medal for Distinguished Service in 1992.
