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| Peter Borwein | |
|---|---|
| Name | Peter Borwein |
| Birth date | 10 February 1953 |
| Birth place | Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland |
| Death date | 6 August 2020 |
| Death place | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Workplaces | Simon Fraser University |
| Alma mater | University of Western Ontario, Queen's University |
| Doctoral advisor | Walter Knödel |
Peter Borwein
Peter Borwein was a Canadian mathematician known for contributions to computational mathematics, numerical analysis, and analytic number theory. He made influential advances in experimental mathematics, algorithmic approximation, and fast convergence methods, collaborating with a range of mathematicians and institutions across North America and Europe. His work connected classical analysis with modern computer-assisted techniques and influenced research in special functions, Dirichlet series, and pi computation.
Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, Borwein emigrated to Canada during his youth and pursued mathematics through Canadian institutions. He studied at the University of Western Ontario for his undergraduate work, then completed graduate studies at Queen's University at Kingston where he engaged with faculty and visitors from institutions such as University of Toronto and McMaster University. During his doctoral period he encountered influences from computational and theoretical centers including exchanges tied to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, and continental European mathematics hubs like University of Bonn.
Borwein held professorial and research positions primarily at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, where he developed a research group that connected to networks at University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, and international collaborators at University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, and the École Polytechnique. He served visiting appointments and delivered lectures at venues including Institute for Advanced Study, International Congress of Mathematicians, and research institutes such as Fields Institute and Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. His institutional roles bridged Canadian research funding agencies such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and professional societies including the Canadian Mathematical Society and the American Mathematical Society.
Borwein's research spanned numerical analysis, experimental mathematics, and analytic number theory, yielding algorithmic innovations connected to classical objects like the Riemann zeta function, Euler, and Ramanujan-type series. He co-developed rapidly convergent algorithms for constants including algorithms inspired by the Gauss–Legendre algorithm that accelerated computation of π and other constants leveraging elliptic integrals and modular functions linked to Carl Friedrich Gauss and Adrien-Marie Legendre. Collaborations with colleagues produced the Borwein brothers' algorithms for pi, inspired by work of Srinivasa Ramanujan and modern computational projects at institutions such as NASA and high-performance computing centers.
In analytic number theory he investigated properties of Dirichlet series and multiple zeta values related to research threads from G. H. Hardy, John Littlewood, and contemporary researchers at Princeton University and Harvard University. His experimental-mathematics methodology integrated symbolic computation systems like those developed at IBM research labs and computational platforms arising from Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley. He made contributions to inequalities and convexity questions connected to classical figures such as Bernoulli and Euler, and to approximation theory that related to names like Chebyshev and Markov.
Borwein also worked on algorithmic complexity issues that intersected with the research agendas of Alan Turing and later computational theorists at Courant Institute and ETH Zurich, advancing techniques for validated numerics and high-precision computation used by projects in mathematical physics and computational number theory at institutions like CERN and national laboratories.
Borwein authored and co-authored numerous research articles and several monographs and textbooks. Notable collaborative books include works on experimental mathematics co-written with colleagues that surveyed algorithms for constants and methods from Ramanujan-style series and modular equations linked to Modular group studies familiar to researchers at Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques and Max Planck Institute for Mathematics. His publications appeared in leading journals associated with publishers connected to Cambridge University Press, Elsevier, and societies such as the London Mathematical Society and the American Mathematical Society. He contributed expository chapters to conference proceedings of gatherings like the International Congress of Mathematicians and workshops at the Fields Institute.
During his career Borwein received recognition from Canadian and international mathematical organizations. He was acknowledged by bodies including the Canadian Mathematical Society and received invitations and fellowships tied to institutes such as the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and the Newton Institute (now Isaac Newton Institute). He held research grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and participated in award committees and panels associated with societies like the Royal Society of Canada.
Borwein's family included mathematicians and scientists with interconnections to academic networks spanning University of Western Ontario alumni and Canadian research communities. His legacy endures through students and collaborators who joined faculties at institutions including Simon Fraser University, University of Toronto, McGill University, University of Waterloo, and international universities such as University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. His influence persists in computational techniques used by researchers at centers like MIT, Princeton University, and national laboratories, and in the continued citation of his work in fields linked to experts at Harvard University, Stanford University, and specialty institutes such as the Fields Institute.
Category:Canadian mathematicians Category:1953 births Category:2020 deaths