Jonathan Borwein facts for kids

Jonathan Michael Borwein (born May 20, 1951 – died August 2, 2016) was a Scottish mathematician. He was a top professor of mathematics at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He worked closely with David H. Bailey. They were well-known for promoting something called experimental mathematics.

Borwein was interested in many areas of math. These included pure math (like analysis) and applied math (like finding the best solutions, called optimization). He also worked on computational mathematics, which uses computers to solve math problems. He wrote ten books, including some about experimental mathematics. He also wrote over 400 articles for scientific journals. In 1995, he helped start a software company called MathResources. This company made interactive software for math students.

He was also an expert on the number pi. He especially knew a lot about how to calculate pi.

Early Life and Education

Jonathan Borwein was born in St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1951. He came from a Jewish family. His father, David Borwein, was also a mathematician. Jonathan even worked with his father on some projects. His brother, Peter Borwein, was also a mathematician.

Jonathan was married to Judith. They had three daughters.

He earned his first degree in math from the University of Western Ontario in 1971. He then went to Oxford University in 1974. There, he earned his D.Phil. (a type of doctorate degree). He was a Rhodes Scholar at Jesus College. This is a special scholarship for talented students.

Amazing Career in Mathematics

Before joining Simon Fraser University in 1993, Jonathan Borwein worked at several other universities. He taught at Dalhousie University from 1974 to 1991. He also worked at Carnegie-Mellon and the University of Waterloo.

At Simon Fraser University, he was a special professor of science. He was also a Canada Research Chair in Information Technology. This is a big honor for top researchers in Canada. He started the Centre for Experimental and Constructive Mathematics there. With his brother and Simon Plouffe, he helped create the Inverse Symbolic Calculator. This is a tool that helps mathematicians. Later, he returned to Dalhousie University. He continued his research there.

Borwein was a leader in many math organizations. He was president of the Canadian Mathematical Society from 2000 to 2002. He also chaired several scientific programs for NATO. He was also a key advisor for the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI). He led the Canadian HPC consortium, which later became Compute Canada. This group helps with high-performance computing.

Awards and Recognitions

Jonathan Borwein received many awards for his work. In 1993, he won the Chauvenet Prize. This award is for excellent math writing. In 1994, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. This is a high honor for Canadian scholars. He also became a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2002.

He received an honorary degree from Limoges in 1999. In 2003, he became a foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He was elected a Fellow to the Australian Academy of Science in 2010. In 2014, he became a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. He was also recognized as a highly cited mathematician. This means his work was often used and referenced by other scientists.

See also

In Spanish: Jonathan Borwein para niños

• Borwein integral
• Borwein's algorithm
• List of University of Waterloo people