David Gale
Encyclopedia
David Gale was a distinguished American mathematician and economist. He was a Professor Emeritus at University of California, Berkeley
, affiliated with departments of Mathematics, Economics, and Industrial Engineering and Operations Research. He has contributed to the fields of mathematical economics
, game theory
, and convex analysis
.
Gale earned his Ph.D.
in Mathematics at Princeton University
in 1949. He taught at Brown University
from 1950 to 1965 and then joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley
.
Gale lived in Berkeley, CA and Paris, France with his partner Sandra Gilbert
, renowned feminist literary scholar and poet. He has three daughters and two grandsons.
, in the theory of optimal economic growth.
Gale and Stewart initiated the study of infinite games with perfect information. This work led to fundamental contributions to mathematical logic.
Gale is the inventor of the game of Bridg-It (also known as "Game of Gale") and Chomp
.
Gale played a fundamental role in the development of the theory of linear programming and linear inequalities. His classic 1960 book The Theory of Linear Economic Models continues to be a standard reference for this area.
The Gale Transform is an involution on sets of points in projective space. The concept is important in optimization, coding theory, and algebraic geometry.
Gale's paper with Lloyd Shapley
on the stable marriage problem
provides the first formal statement and proof of a problem that has far-reaching implications in many matching markets and is currently being applied in New York and Boston public school systems in assigning students to schools.
Gale wrote a Mathematical Entertainments column for the Mathematical Intelligencer from 1991 through 1997. The book Tracking the Automatic Ant collects these columns.
In 2004 Gale developed MathSite, a pedagogic website that uses interactive exhibits to illustrate important mathematical ideas. MathSite won the 2007 Pirelli Internetional Award
for Science Communication in Mathematics.
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, affiliated with departments of Mathematics, Economics, and Industrial Engineering and Operations Research. He has contributed to the fields of mathematical economics
Mathematical economics
Mathematical economics is the application of mathematical methods to represent economic theories and analyze problems posed in economics. It allows formulation and derivation of key relationships in a theory with clarity, generality, rigor, and simplicity...
, game theory
Game theory
Game theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...
, and convex analysis
Convex analysis
Convex analysis is the branch of mathematics devoted to the study of properties of convex functions and convex sets, often with applications in convex minimization, a subdomain of optimization theory....
.
Gale 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...
in Mathematics at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1949. He taught at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
from 1950 to 1965 and then joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
.
Gale lived in Berkeley, CA and Paris, France with his partner Sandra Gilbert
Sandra Gilbert
Sandra M. Gilbert , Professor Emerita of English at the University of California, Davis, is an influential literary critic and poet who has published widely in the fields of feminist literary criticism, feminist theory, and psychoanalytic criticism...
, renowned feminist literary scholar and poet. He has three daughters and two grandsons.
Contribution
Gale's contributions to mathematical economics include an early proof of the existence of competitive equilibrium, his solution of the n-dimensional Ramsey problemRamsey problem
The Ramsey problem, or Ramsey-Boiteux pricing, is a policy rule concerning what price a monopolist should set, in order to maximize social welfare, subject to a constraint on profit...
, in the theory of optimal economic growth.
Gale and Stewart initiated the study of infinite games with perfect information. This work led to fundamental contributions to mathematical logic.
Gale is the inventor of the game of Bridg-It (also known as "Game of Gale") and Chomp
Chomp
Chomp is a 2-player game of strategy played on a rectangular "chocolate bar" made up of smaller square blocks . The players take it in turns to choose one block and "eat it" , together with those that are below it and to its right...
.
Gale played a fundamental role in the development of the theory of linear programming and linear inequalities. His classic 1960 book The Theory of Linear Economic Models continues to be a standard reference for this area.
The Gale Transform is an involution on sets of points in projective space. The concept is important in optimization, coding theory, and algebraic geometry.
Gale's paper with Lloyd Shapley
Lloyd Shapley
Lloyd Stowell Shapley is a distinguished American mathematician and economist. He is a Professor Emeritus at University of California, Los Angeles, affiliated with departments of Mathematics and Economics...
on the stable marriage problem
Stable marriage problem
In mathematics and computer science, the stable marriage problem is the problem of finding a stable matching between two sets of elements given a set of preferences for each element. A matching is a mapping from the elements of one set to the elements of the other set...
provides the first formal statement and proof of a problem that has far-reaching implications in many matching markets and is currently being applied in New York and Boston public school systems in assigning students to schools.
Gale wrote a Mathematical Entertainments column for the Mathematical Intelligencer from 1991 through 1997. The book Tracking the Automatic Ant collects these columns.
In 2004 Gale developed MathSite, a pedagogic website that uses interactive exhibits to illustrate important mathematical ideas. MathSite won the 2007 Pirelli Internetional Award
Pirelli Internetional Award
The Pirelli Internetional Award was first offered in 1996, as the first international multimedia competition for the communication of science & technology conducted entirely on the internet. Since then, annual awards have been granted to the best multimedia presentations focussing on themes...
for Science Communication in Mathematics.
Awards and honors
- Procter Fellow, Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, 1948 - Fulbright Research Fellowship, 1953–54
- Guggenheim Fellow, 1962–63, 1981
- Fellow, Econometric Society, 1965
- Miller Professor, 1971–72
- Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences, 1975–76
- Fellow, American Academy of Arts and SciencesAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, 1978 - Lester Ford Prize, 1979–80
- John von Neumann Theory PrizeJohn von Neumann Theory PrizeThe John von Neumann Theory Prize of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciencesis awarded annually to an individual who has made fundamental and sustained contributions to theory in operations research and the management sciences.The Prize named after mathematician John von...
, 1980 - Member, National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
, 1983 - Pirelli Internetional AwardPirelli Internetional AwardThe Pirelli Internetional Award was first offered in 1996, as the first international multimedia competition for the communication of science & technology conducted entirely on the internet. Since then, annual awards have been granted to the best multimedia presentations focussing on themes...
Science Communication of Mathematics, 2007
Selected publications
- Infinite games with perfect information (with F.M. Stewart). Annals of Mathematics 28 (1953), pp. 245–266.
- The law of supply and demand. Mathematica Scandinavica 3 (1955), pp. 33–44.
- Neighboring vertices on a convex polyhedron, in “Linear Inequalities and Related Systems” (H.W. Kuhn and A.W. Tucker, eds.), Annals of Math. Studies 38, 255–263, Princeton Univ. Press, 1956.
- The theory of linear economic models. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1960.
- College admissions and the stability of marriage (with L.S. Shapley). American Mathematical Monthly 69 (1962), pp. 9–15.
- A note on global instability of competitive equilibrium. Naval Research Logistics Quarterly 10 (1963), pp. 81–87.
- The Jacobian matrix and global univalence of mappings (with H. Nikaido). Mathematische Annalen 2 (1965), pp. 81–93.
- On optimal development in a multi-sector economy. The Review of Economic Studies 34 (1967), pp. 1–18.
- Pure exchange equilibrium of dynamic economic models. Journal of Economic Theory 6 (1973), pp. 12–26.
- A curious nim-type game. American Mathematical Monthly 81(1974), pp. 876–879.
- The game of Hex and the Brouwer fixed-point theorem. American Mathematical Monthly 86(1979), pp. 818–827.
- The strategy structure of two-sided matching markets (with G. Demange). Econometrica 53, no. 4 (1985), pp. 873–888.
- Tracking the automatic ant. And other mathematical explorations. A collection of Mathematical Entertainments columns from The Mathematical Intelligencer. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1998, pp. xii + 241.