MacTutor
Edwin Ford Beckenbach was born in Dallas, Texas, and pursued his undergraduate and graduate education at The Rice Institute (now Rice University) in Houston, where he received his Ph.D. in 1931. He then spent two years as a National Research Council Fellow, at Princeton, Chicago, and Ohio State, returning to Rice to join its faculty in 1933. After seven years at Rice, he moved to the University of Michigan for two years, thence to the University of Texas for three, and finally to UCLA in 1945, where he became Emeritus in 1974.
Professor Beckenbach's mathematical work started with his thesis on minimal surfaces, and these, together with the closely related topics of subharmonic functions, convex functions, and inequalities, continued to hold his scientific interest throughout approximately seventy-five papers and several books. His continuing interest in inequalities is reflected in the appearance in the last decade or so of two books on the subject, written with Richard Bellman, and in his part in organizing three international conferences at Obersolfach, West Germany, the Proceedings of which he edited.
Beyond and apart from his purely mathematical work, his contributions to mathematics at UCLA and on the national and international scene were truly outstanding.
At UCLA, he was a leader in developing the graduate program, from the moment of his arrival. The first Ph.D. in Mathematics at UCLA was awarded in 1947 to a student of his (jointly with W. T. Puckett). He also was Acting Chairman of the Mathematics Department for a year. In addition, he made two very important special contributions. First, he almost singlehandedly brought to bear the influence that caused the creation in 1948 of the Institute for Numerical Analysis on the UCLA campus. This was a branch of the National Bureau of Standards devoted to computing and the construction and use of computing machines. Its SWAC computing machine, built at UCLA, was for a number of years one of the half dozen most powerful computers in the world. The group of mathematicians who gathered in connection with it made UCLA well known world-wide and influenced the development of mathematics here ever after. Second, he was (together with Franticek Wolf, of Berkeley) a main influence in the establishment in 1951 of the Pacific Journal of Mathematics, a major international mathematical research journal sponsored by a dozen or more West Coast universities. Its headquarters and Managing Editors, of whom Ed was the first, have always been at UCLA--something that has contributed strongly to mathematics at UCLA and to the visibility of its mathematical group.
Ed held several elective positions with the American Mathematical Society, and did extensive committee and editorial work for the Mathematical Association of America and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. These many contributions to mathematics and mathematics education resulted in his being selected last summer to receive the Award for Distinguished Service of the Mathematical Association. This is an award given annually for outstanding service to mathematics, apart from research, and it has had a distinguished list of recipients. Ed learned about this honor a few days before death. The award was presented posthumously at the January, 1983, meeting of the Association.
Ed is survived by his wife, Alice Curtiss Tucker Beckenbach. We will long remember the hospitality they extended so often and graciously to local and visiting scientists and their other friends. Not the least of these events were the famous "Mother-ins." These were receptions, held on or near Mothers Day, to which all UCLA mathematicians and their families were invited to hike, swim, and have a good time.
Ed is also survived by the children of his first marriage, to Madelene Simons: Dr. Edwin S. Beckenbach, Dr. Lenann Nye, and Mrs. Suzann Morse. There are also five grandchildren.
Any report on Ed Beckenbach would be hopelessly incomplete without mentioning his (and Alice's) love of tennis. In fact his interest in tennis may have extended over a longer period than his interest in inequalities. He played intercollegiate tennis at Rice, was Captain of the team and later was Coach. He played a game of tennis the morning of the day he suffered his fatal stroke.
John W. Green
Ernst Straus
Kirby Baker
Professor Beckenbach's mathematical work started with his thesis on minimal surfaces, and these, together with the closely related topics of subharmonic functions, convex functions, and inequalities, continued to hold his scientific interest throughout approximately seventy-five papers and several books. His continuing interest in inequalities is reflected in the appearance in the last decade or so of two books on the subject, written with Richard Bellman, and in his part in organizing three international conferences at Obersolfach, West Germany, the Proceedings of which he edited.
Beyond and apart from his purely mathematical work, his contributions to mathematics at UCLA and on the national and international scene were truly outstanding.
At UCLA, he was a leader in developing the graduate program, from the moment of his arrival. The first Ph.D. in Mathematics at UCLA was awarded in 1947 to a student of his (jointly with W. T. Puckett). He also was Acting Chairman of the Mathematics Department for a year. In addition, he made two very important special contributions. First, he almost singlehandedly brought to bear the influence that caused the creation in 1948 of the Institute for Numerical Analysis on the UCLA campus. This was a branch of the National Bureau of Standards devoted to computing and the construction and use of computing machines. Its SWAC computing machine, built at UCLA, was for a number of years one of the half dozen most powerful computers in the world. The group of mathematicians who gathered in connection with it made UCLA well known world-wide and influenced the development of mathematics here ever after. Second, he was (together with Franticek Wolf, of Berkeley) a main influence in the establishment in 1951 of the Pacific Journal of Mathematics, a major international mathematical research journal sponsored by a dozen or more West Coast universities. Its headquarters and Managing Editors, of whom Ed was the first, have always been at UCLA--something that has contributed strongly to mathematics at UCLA and to the visibility of its mathematical group.
Ed held several elective positions with the American Mathematical Society, and did extensive committee and editorial work for the Mathematical Association of America and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. These many contributions to mathematics and mathematics education resulted in his being selected last summer to receive the Award for Distinguished Service of the Mathematical Association. This is an award given annually for outstanding service to mathematics, apart from research, and it has had a distinguished list of recipients. Ed learned about this honor a few days before death. The award was presented posthumously at the January, 1983, meeting of the Association.
Ed is survived by his wife, Alice Curtiss Tucker Beckenbach. We will long remember the hospitality they extended so often and graciously to local and visiting scientists and their other friends. Not the least of these events were the famous "Mother-ins." These were receptions, held on or near Mothers Day, to which all UCLA mathematicians and their families were invited to hike, swim, and have a good time.
Ed is also survived by the children of his first marriage, to Madelene Simons: Dr. Edwin S. Beckenbach, Dr. Lenann Nye, and Mrs. Suzann Morse. There are also five grandchildren.
Any report on Ed Beckenbach would be hopelessly incomplete without mentioning his (and Alice's) love of tennis. In fact his interest in tennis may have extended over a longer period than his interest in inequalities. He played intercollegiate tennis at Rice, was Captain of the team and later was Coach. He played a game of tennis the morning of the day he suffered his fatal stroke.
John W. Green
Ernst Straus
Kirby Baker
This University of California obituary is available at THIS LINK