Carol Karp facts for kids
Carol Karp, born Carol Ruth Vander Velde, was an amazing American mathematician. She was born on August 10, 1926, in Forest Grove, Michigan, and passed away on August 20, 1972, in Maryland. Carol Karp is most famous for her important work in a special area of math called infinitary logic. Besides being a brilliant mathematician, she also loved music and played the viola in an orchestra made up only of women.
Contents
Her Life Story
Early Years and Education
Carol grew up in Michigan. Her father managed a store that sold supplies for farms, and her mother was a housewife. Carol and her brothers and sisters finished high school in Ohio. After that, she went to Manchester University in Indiana. Then, she returned to Michigan to study at Michigan State University. There, she earned her master's degree in 1950.
Marriage and Advanced Studies
In 1951, Carol married Arthur Karp and started using his last name. She kept studying math even while traveling with her husband. He worked for the U.S. Navy, so they lived in places like California and Japan.
Carol earned her Ph.D. (a very high degree) in mathematics in 1959 from the University of Southern California. Her main project, called a dissertation, was about formal language theory and infinitary logic. It was titled Languages with Expressions of Infinite Length. She later turned this dissertation into a book.
A Leading Mathematician
Even before she finished her Ph.D., Carol Karp started working as a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1958. She was so good at her job that she became a full professor in just seven years! She was known as a "leader" in the growing field of infinitary logic. Carol continued her important work until she passed away in 1972.
Her Legacy
Carol Karp's contributions to mathematics are still remembered today. The Association for Symbolic Logic created the Karp Prize in her honor in 1973. This special award is given every five years to someone who has done important research in logic.
