12 Facts About Paul Halmos

Paul Richard Halmos was a Hungarian-born American mathematician and probabilist who made fundamental advances in the areas of mathematical logic, probability theory, operator theory, ergodic theory, and functional analysis.

Paul Halmos has been described as one of The Martians.

Paul Halmos obtained the degree after only three years, and was 19 years old when he graduated.

Shortly after his graduation, Paul Halmos left for the Institute for Advanced Study, lacking both job and grant money.

Paul Halmos taught at Syracuse University, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, the University of Hawaii, Indiana University, and the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Paul Halmos won the Lester R Ford Award in 1971 and again in 1977.

Paul Halmos chaired the American Mathematical Society committee that wrote the AMS style guide for academic mathematics, published in 1973.

Paul Halmos discussed the division of the field into mathology and mathophysics, further arguing that mathematicians and painters think and work in related ways.

Paul Halmos's 1985 "automathography" I Want to Be a Mathematician is an account of what it was like to be an academic mathematician in 20th century America.

Paul Halmos called the book "automathography" rather than "autobiography", because its focus is almost entirely on his life as a mathematician, not his personal life.

In 1994, Paul Halmos received the Deborah and Franklin Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics.

Books by Paul Halmos have led to so many reviews that lists have been assembled.