Roger C. Alperin
Roger Charles Alperin (January 8, 1947 – November 21, 2019) was an American mathematician, best known for his work in group theory, including its connections with geometry and topology. He was a professor at the University of Oklahoma and at San Jose State University.
Education and career
Alperin was born on January 8, 1947 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1] He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago,[2] and his PhD from Rice University in 1973. His thesis was supervised by Stephen M. Gersten, and was titled Whitehead Torsion of Finite Abelian Groups.[3] After temporary positions at Brown University, Haverford College, and Washington University in St. Louis, Alperin took a permanent position at the University of Oklahoma in 1978.[4] He was eventually promoted to full professor at the University of Oklahoma, but resigned his position to move to California in 1987.[4] Upon moving to California, he found a position at San Jose State University, which he held until his retirement in 2015.[4]
Alperin died on November 21, 2019 at his home in Carlsbad, California.[4]
Research
Alperin's work on real trees in the 80s (partly joint with Hyman Bass and Kenneth Moss) helped to stimulate interest in these objects, and helped establish them as a basic tool in geometric group theory.[4] Alperin has also done foundational work on the mathematical theory of origami.[1]
References
- "In Memoriam: Roger Charles Alperin (1947 - 2019)" (PDF). International Journal of Geometry. 9 (1): 42–43. 2020. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
- American Men & Women of Science (22nd ed.). Thomson Gale. 2005. ISBN 0787674001.
- Roger C. Alperin at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Farb, Benson; Shalev, Peter (December 2020). "Roger Alperin". Notices of the American Mathematical Society. American Mathematical Society. 67 (11): 1768–1769. doi:10.1090/noti2189.
