An Ever-Growing Collection of News, Features & Achievements
For a long time, there was that box of photos tucked away in one of the administrative offices. Then it got shuffled when we moved around offices, and it got put into that long dark storage where we put things we don’t know what to do with. But then, we found it. And we decided …
In 1952, Fred Gruenberger, a supervisor in the Math Department computing lab(!), published the “Computing Manual” through University of Wisconsin Press. It was the first documents to show how computers could be used to do math and was used to teach students how to use IBM systems. This picture, from https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/QJKGRFVXRPDUL9A, is undated, but it …
One of the first professors in the Math Department was, in his youth, one of the many Americans lured to the wild west of California during the Gold Rush. This article, from 1922, has Professor Parkinson recounting his adventures, but “in the spring of 1855, Professor Parkinson resolutely turned his mind from the thought of …
William (aka Bill, “Wild Bill”) James LaubenheimerAugust 19, 1956 – July 19, 2023 Bill grew up in Milwaukee, WI, graduated from Carroll College at age 19, and attended UW Madison where he received double major master degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science in 1979. While at Madison, he developed tight friendships over the bridge table. …
Dr. Raymond Damadian, who built the first magnetic resonance imaging scanner, which revolutionized doctors’ ability to diagnose cancer and other illnesses — but who, to his dismay, saw the Nobel Prize for the science behind it go to two others — died on Aug. 3 at his home in Woodbury, N.Y. He was 86. Since …
Robert L. San Soucie, PhD, died March 13, 2017, just shy of his 90th birthday. He was born in Adams, Massachusetts to Leo and Ora (Sturm) San Soucie. He is survived by his wife, Pat, sons Rick and Marc, daughter Mary Frances, a brother, William, seven grandchildren, and many nephews and nieces.
Douglas John Strand died Saturday, April 28, 2018, at his home in Edgewood, Md., at the age of 70. Born in Madison, he was the son of the late Louis and Theodora (Thysse) Strand. Doug went to Central High School in Madison and attended college at Bethany in Mankato, MN and UW-Madison (1969). He was …
Ted Frost (Ph.D., 1969, Wainger) wrote in 2017, “In my earlier years of graduate work, I expended some of my energy by inventing walking along the outside of Van Vleck Hall on the 7th floor, window to window. I heard some fellow duplicated that trick some years later.” (Editor: The windows are now secured against …
Douglas McLeod (Ph.D., 1972, Harvey, M.A., 1965) provided this picture of a 1964 Summer Institute for faculty from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) to refresh their skills. This was TA’ed and staffed by various Math Department faculty and graduate students (including him). It was funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation. It was …