# Math Help - I M Gelfand 1913–2009

1. ## I M Gelfand 1913–2009

Yesterday's Guardian has a whole-page obituary of Israel Gelfand, who died last month.

Israel Gelfand obituary | Science | The Guardian

Gelfand and his collaborator Mark Naimark, along with John von Neumann, were the founders of the theory of operator algebras (of which my username is an abbreviation). This has developed into one of the more active strands of mathematical research in the past half century, with important applications in noncommutative geometry, knot theory, quantum field theory, quantum statistical mechanics and the representation theory of topological groups.

I met Gelfand a few years ago, at the International Congress of Mathematics. His mind was as sharp as ever, although by then he was well into his nineties. He was eagerly listening to young mathematicians explaining their work to him, and giving them ideas and advice.

2. Originally Posted by Opalg
Yesterday's Guardian has a whole-page obituary of Israel Gelfand, who died last month.

Israel Gelfand obituary | Science | The Guardian

Gelfand and his collaborator Mark Naimark, along with John von Neumann, were the founders of the theory of operator algebras (of which my username is an abbreviation). This has developed into one of the more active strands of mathematical research in the past half century, with important applications in noncommutative geometry, knot theory, quantum field theory, quantum statistical mechanics and the representation theory of topological groups.

I met Gelfand a few years ago, at the International Congress of Mathematics. His mind was as sharp as ever, although by then he was well into his nineties. He was eagerly listening to young mathematicians explaining their work to him, and giving them ideas and advice.
$e^{\pi}$?

3. Originally Posted by Drexel28
$e^{\pi}$?
No, $e^\pi$ is associated with Alexander Gelfond, a different mathematician. Gelfond died in 1968.

4. Originally Posted by Opalg
No, $e^\pi$ is associated with Alexander Gelfond, a different mathematician. Gelfond died in 1968.
I'm sorry. My mistake.

5. Originally Posted by Opalg
I met Gelfand a few years ago, at the International Congress of Mathematics. His mind was as sharp as ever, although by then he was well into his nineties. He was eagerly listening to young mathematicians explaining their work to him, and giving them ideas and advice.
I am always jealous when people say these sorts of things.

7. I know this is an obscene amount of time later, but I would like to comment that know that I am slightly wiser I appreciate Gelfand for the kind of mathematician he was. I mean, everything has his name attached. Non Comm Geo, $x\mapsto\hat{x}$, and he even authored the book I'm using on calc of variations. Profound man to say the least.