Translated by William Hellberg

Softcover ISBN: | 978-1-4704-1846-5 |
Product Code: | MBK/92 |
List Price: | $49.00 |
MAA Member Price: | $44.10 |
AMS Member Price: | $39.20 |
eBook ISBN: | 978-1-4704-2353-7 |
Product Code: | MBK/92.E |
List Price: | $45.00 |
MAA Member Price: | $40.50 |
AMS Member Price: | $36.00 |
Softcover ISBN: | 978-1-4704-1846-5 |
eBook: ISBN: | 978-1-4704-2353-7 |
Product Code: | MBK/92.B |
List Price: | $94.00 $71.50 |
MAA Member Price: | $84.60 $64.35 |
AMS Member Price: | $75.20 $57.20 |

Translated by William Hellberg
Softcover ISBN: | 978-1-4704-1846-5 |
Product Code: | MBK/92 |
List Price: | $49.00 |
MAA Member Price: | $44.10 |
AMS Member Price: | $39.20 |
eBook ISBN: | 978-1-4704-2353-7 |
Product Code: | MBK/92.E |
List Price: | $45.00 |
MAA Member Price: | $40.50 |
AMS Member Price: | $36.00 |
Softcover ISBN: | 978-1-4704-1846-5 |
eBook ISBN: | 978-1-4704-2353-7 |
Product Code: | MBK/92.B |
List Price: | $94.00 $71.50 |
MAA Member Price: | $84.60 $64.35 |
AMS Member Price: | $75.20 $57.20 |
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Book Details2015; 125 ppMSC: Primary 01
This book tells the story of the Finnish-American mathematician Lars Ahlfors (1907–1996). He was educated at the University of Helsinki as a student of Ernst Lindelöf and Rolf Nevanlinna and later became a professor there. He left Finland permanently in 1944 and was professor and emeritus at Harvard University for more than fifty years.
Already at the age of twenty-one Ahlfors became a well-known mathematician having solved Denjoy's conjecture, and in 1936 he established his world renown when he was awarded the Fields Medal, the “Nobel Prize in mathematics”. In this book the description of his mathematics avoids technical details and concentrates on his contributions to the general development of complex analysis.
Besides mathematics there is also a lot to tell about Ahlfors. World War II marked his life, and he was a colorful personality, with many interesting stories about him.
Olli Lehto, the author of the book, first met Lars Ahlfors and his family as a young doctor at Harvard in 1950. Numerous meetings after that in various parts of the world led to a close friendship between them.
ReadershipUndergraduate and graduate students and research mathematicians interested in the history of mathematics.
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Table of Contents
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Chapters
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Family background
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Exceptional talent emerges
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Mathematical renown secured
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To America and back again
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War years in Finland
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In Sweden and Switzerland
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Professorship at Harvard University
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The legacy of Riemann and Teichmüller
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New research and return to the old
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Distinctions
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Additions to the portrait
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Epilogue in Finland
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Additional Material
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Reviews
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Olli Lehto has given us a first-rate biography, running from a brief review of Ahlfors' ancestry through to his centennial celebration. Lehto has succeeded in avoiding the twin pitfalls of so much information as to risk being tedious, or so much brevity as to leave the reader with nothing to work with. Instead we are given enough insight to feel that we have got to know Ahlfors as a person, and some notion of the mathematics he created. ...In reading this book, I came to like Ahlfors as a person, to admire his mathematics even more than previously, and was prompted to go off and read more of his works. I can offer no better recommendation.
David Sixsmith, London Mathematical Society -
Ahlfors was a living legend, and although he was known to outsiders, i.e. non analysts, primarily through the effect of his [classic text on complex analysis], there was, and is, a lot more to be told about his fascinating life. We now have a compact, readable, and mathematically meaningful biography by Olli Lehto, another Finn, another analyst, another member of Nevanlinna's circle, and a very close friend of Ahlfors. It doesn't get any better than that.
MAA Online
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- Book Details
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This book tells the story of the Finnish-American mathematician Lars Ahlfors (1907–1996). He was educated at the University of Helsinki as a student of Ernst Lindelöf and Rolf Nevanlinna and later became a professor there. He left Finland permanently in 1944 and was professor and emeritus at Harvard University for more than fifty years.
Already at the age of twenty-one Ahlfors became a well-known mathematician having solved Denjoy's conjecture, and in 1936 he established his world renown when he was awarded the Fields Medal, the “Nobel Prize in mathematics”. In this book the description of his mathematics avoids technical details and concentrates on his contributions to the general development of complex analysis.
Besides mathematics there is also a lot to tell about Ahlfors. World War II marked his life, and he was a colorful personality, with many interesting stories about him.
Olli Lehto, the author of the book, first met Lars Ahlfors and his family as a young doctor at Harvard in 1950. Numerous meetings after that in various parts of the world led to a close friendship between them.
Undergraduate and graduate students and research mathematicians interested in the history of mathematics.
-
Chapters
-
Family background
-
Exceptional talent emerges
-
Mathematical renown secured
-
To America and back again
-
War years in Finland
-
In Sweden and Switzerland
-
Professorship at Harvard University
-
The legacy of Riemann and Teichmüller
-
New research and return to the old
-
Distinctions
-
Additions to the portrait
-
Epilogue in Finland
-
Olli Lehto has given us a first-rate biography, running from a brief review of Ahlfors' ancestry through to his centennial celebration. Lehto has succeeded in avoiding the twin pitfalls of so much information as to risk being tedious, or so much brevity as to leave the reader with nothing to work with. Instead we are given enough insight to feel that we have got to know Ahlfors as a person, and some notion of the mathematics he created. ...In reading this book, I came to like Ahlfors as a person, to admire his mathematics even more than previously, and was prompted to go off and read more of his works. I can offer no better recommendation.
David Sixsmith, London Mathematical Society -
Ahlfors was a living legend, and although he was known to outsiders, i.e. non analysts, primarily through the effect of his [classic text on complex analysis], there was, and is, a lot more to be told about his fascinating life. We now have a compact, readable, and mathematically meaningful biography by Olli Lehto, another Finn, another analyst, another member of Nevanlinna's circle, and a very close friend of Ahlfors. It doesn't get any better than that.
MAA Online