Krystyna Kuperberg facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Krystyna M. Kuperberg
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Krystyna Kuperberg in 1990
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| Born | July 17, 1944 Tarnów, Poland
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| Nationality | Polish, American |
| Alma mater | University of Warsaw (M.S.) Rice University (Ph.D.) |
| Known for | Smooth counter-example to the Seifert conjecture |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Topology Dynamical systems |
| Institutions | Auburn University |
| Doctoral advisors | Karol Borsuk William Jaco |
Krystyna M. Kuperberg is a famous Polish-American mathematician. She was born on July 17, 1944, with the name Krystyna M. Trybulec. She is a professor of mathematics at Auburn University in the United States.
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Her Family and Early Life
Krystyna Kuperberg grew up in Tarnów, Poland. Her parents, Jan W. and Barbara H. Trybulec, owned a pharmacy. Her older brother, Andrzej Trybulec, also became a mathematician.
Mathematics seems to run in her family! Her husband, Włodzimierz Kuperberg, and her son, Greg Kuperberg, are both mathematicians. Her daughter, Anna Kuperberg, is a photographer.
Her Education and Career
Krystyna Kuperberg went to high school in Gdańsk, Poland. In 1962, she started studying mathematics at the University of Warsaw. She loved topology, which is a branch of mathematics that studies shapes and spaces.
After getting her first degree, she continued her studies in Warsaw. In 1969, she moved to Sweden with her family. Later, in 1972, they moved to the United States.
She earned her Ph.D. (a high-level university degree) in 1974 from Rice University. In the same year, she and her husband both became professors at Auburn University.
What She Discovered
Krystyna Kuperberg is known for solving some very difficult math problems. In 1987, she solved a problem about shapes called "continua."
She also became very interested in dynamical systems. These are systems that change over time, like how planets move or how populations grow. She looked at the "fixed points" in these systems. A fixed point is a state where the system doesn't change.
In 1993, she made a big discovery. She found a smooth counter-example to the Seifert conjecture. This was a famous problem that mathematicians had been trying to solve for a long time. It showed that some ideas about how things behave in certain spaces were not always true. She continues to work on dynamical systems.
Awards and Recognition
Krystyna Kuperberg has received many awards for her important work.
- In 1995, she won the Alfred Jurzykowski Prize.
- She has given important talks at major math conferences, including the American Mathematical Society and the International Congress of Mathematicians.
- In 2012, she became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. This means she is recognized as a top mathematician.
See also
In Spanish: Krystyna Kuperberg para niños
