Arthur Rubin
Encyclopedia
Arthur Leonard Rubin is an American
mathematician
.
. Rubin's undergraduate adviser, Gary Lorden, was described as saying that a person of Rubin's mathematical ability shows up in the United States "about once in every ten years".
His mother was Jean E. Rubin, a professor
of mathematics at Purdue University
for over 35 years, and his father, Herman Rubin, is a professor of statistics
at the same university.
In 1978, Rubin earned his Ph.D.
at the California Institute of Technology
, under the direction of Alexander S. Kechris
. Rubin's dissertation was entitled "Free
Algebra
s in Von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel Set Theory
and Positive Elementary Inductions in Reasonable Structures".
Shortly after, in 1979, Rubin co-authored a paper on list coloring of graphs
with Paul Erdős
, giving him an Erdős number
of 1. In addition, Rubin has published papers on the following topics:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
.
Biography
As an undergraduate he placed among the top five competitors in the William Lowell Putnam Competition on four occasions (1970–73), a feat matched by only six other undergraduate students since the first competition in 1938. He first became Putnam Fellow at the age of 14 (in 1970), making him the youngest person at the time to have achieved this feat. This achievement was lauded in the popular press, which described him as a geniusGenius
Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....
. Rubin's undergraduate adviser, Gary Lorden, was described as saying that a person of Rubin's mathematical ability shows up in the United States "about once in every ten years".
His mother was Jean E. Rubin, a professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of mathematics at Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
for over 35 years, and his father, Herman Rubin, is a professor of statistics
Statistician
A statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
at the same university.
In 1978, Rubin earned his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, under the direction of Alexander S. Kechris
Alexander S. Kechris
Alexander Sotirios Kechris is a descriptive set theorist at Caltech. He has made major contributions to the theory of Borel equivalence relations....
. Rubin's dissertation was entitled "Free
Free object
In mathematics, the idea of a free object is one of the basic concepts of abstract algebra. It is a part of universal algebra, in the sense that it relates to all types of algebraic structure . It also has a formulation in terms of category theory, although this is in yet more abstract terms....
Algebra
Abstract algebra
Abstract algebra is the subject area of mathematics that studies algebraic structures, such as groups, rings, fields, modules, vector spaces, and algebras...
s in Von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel Set Theory
Von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory
In the foundations of mathematics, von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory is an axiomatic set theory that is a conservative extension of the canonical axiomatic set theory ZFC. A statement in the language of ZFC is provable in NBG if and only if it is provable in ZFC. The ontology of NBG includes...
and Positive Elementary Inductions in Reasonable Structures".
Shortly after, in 1979, Rubin co-authored a paper on list coloring of graphs
Graph theory
In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of graphs, mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects from a certain collection. A "graph" in this context refers to a collection of vertices or 'nodes' and a collection of edges that connect pairs of...
with Paul Erdős
Paul Erdos
Paul Erdős was a Hungarian mathematician. Erdős published more papers than any other mathematician in history, working with hundreds of collaborators. He worked on problems in combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, classical analysis, approximation theory, set theory, and probability theory...
, giving him an Erdős number
Erdos number
The Erdős number describes the "collaborative distance" between a person and mathematician Paul Erdős, as measured by authorship of mathematical papers.The same principle has been proposed for other eminent persons in other fields.- Overview :...
of 1. In addition, Rubin has published papers on the following topics:
- The axiom of choice
- Information theoryInformation theoryInformation theory is a branch of applied mathematics and electrical engineering involving the quantification of information. Information theory was developed by Claude E. Shannon to find fundamental limits on signal processing operations such as compressing data and on reliably storing and...
- Digital signal processingDigital signal processingDigital signal processing is concerned with the representation of discrete time signals by a sequence of numbers or symbols and the processing of these signals. Digital signal processing and analog signal processing are subfields of signal processing...
Other notable accomplishments
in 2006- Third place tie in the first USA Mathematical Olympiad (1972)
- Ran for California State AssemblyCalifornia State AssemblyThe California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
(55th districtCalifornia's 55th State Assembly districtCalifornia's 55th State Assembly District is one of 80 districts in the California State Assembly. It is currently represented by Democrat Warren T...
) on the Libertarian PartyLibertarian Party (United States)The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
ticket in the early 1980s