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I remember falling in mathematical love with Jon Borwein when he proved the Hölder inequality using Fenchel conjugates. This was during a Measure Theory course I took from him at Dalhousie in 1991. Loosely based on Royden’s book, Jon often taught us more elegant proofs as well as additional material. Jon subsequently accepted me as his doctoral student and, as many of the people who have interacted with Jon would testify, life trajectories were changed profoundly.
Jon was an absolutely amazing and inspiring advisor. His breadth and productivity are simply breathtaking and unparalleled. Jon reminded me of Magnus Carlsen (the
Continue reading My mathematical father Jon Borwein
I was privileged to know Jon Borwein and to work with him in an extremely modest capacity for just a few all-too-short years. Though I’m woefully ill-equipped to comment on the grandeur of his mathematical achievements except to recognize the compelling acclaim that they have attracted universally, at a personal level I can attest to the sheer intellectual brilliance of a man who could converse intelligently on virtually every conceivable subject that would ever arise in conversation. Jon’s brain evidently functioned several orders of magnitude faster than most, his memory retained incomprehensibly greater amounts of information, and he could communicate
Continue reading Sheer intellectual brillance
My cousin, Jon Borwein died unexpectedly. Though I hadn’t seen him in quite a few years, his part of the family though not actually close cousins (there was some arcane mathematical formula by which we could calculate our cousin relationship–I think it involved the square root of a negative number divided by borscht squared) have always felt very close to us and our families have always made a point of connecting over several continents. Somehow as the B*rw*ns (Borwein is the non-Anglicized version of Barwin) moved across the globe, there has always been the sense that we were in this
Continue reading My cousin Jon Borwein
Talk by David H. Bailey at the funeral of Jonathan M. Borwein, 10 August 2016, in London, Ontario, Canada:
As the other speakers have emphasized, Jon Borwein, unlike most academics, was not content to simply focus on his own narrow research. Instead, Jon was always eager to share his results as broadly as possible, and to identify aspects of his research that would appeal to a much larger audience.
Along this line, in 1984, when Jon and Peter Borwein had just discovered some new formulas for computing pi and other basic math functions, they wrote an article for SIAM Review,
Continue reading He left this world a better place (by David Bailey)
Jon was an exceptional person in many respects: a mathematician with an unbelievably large spectrum and of considerable charisma, generosity and humor. He always tried to avoid conflicts, seeking mediation where possible. I appreciated his open-mindedness and his undogmatic views on many issues (not only mathematical issues). I will forever be personally grateful for what he taught me and for his friendship during 38 years. [Michel Thera, Universite de Limoges, France]
Jon was exceptionally bright in mathematics and beyond. In mathematics, I am aware of (and greatly impressed by) his passion for and achievements in experimental mathematics, computational number theory and other areas, but I belong to another region within the broad spectrum of Jon’s interests: optimisation and variational analysis. Here Jon has been a recognized world leader for decades. I first emailed Jon with a question regarding his celebrated smooth variational principle about 20 years ago without really expecting him to reply. (Fortunately he did.) Just this result alone published 29 years ago and named after him and his co-author
Continue reading Australian mathematics is in mourning
It is with a great sense of loss and sadness that members and staff of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) mark the passing of Laureate Professor Jonathan Borwein FRSC, FAA, FAAAS, FAMS.
The world has lost a remarkable mathematician and AMSI one of its greatest champions. Jon was the chair of AMSI’s Scientific Advisory Committee and a member of the AMSI Board, as well as Laureate Professor in the University of Newcastle’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Director of CARMA, the Priority Research Centre in Computer Assisted Research Mathematics and its Applications. His deep international leadership experience,
Continue reading Jonathan Borwein’s astonishing range and versatility
At the recommendation of Brailley Sims of the University of Newcastle, we invited Jonathan Borwein to visit Thailand in April and May, 2013. Jon, Brailley, and Judith seemed to enjoy the trip very much, as they visited many interesting cities and sites in the area. Jon is so strong that he outran our group on a mountain hike.
To me, Jon is one of the giants of mathematics. But the way he treated me was unbelievable. He gave advice and encouragement during conversations. And the most exciting work he mentioned was his ongoing work in experimental mathematics. I like
Continue reading Jonathan Borwein: A giant to me
I first met Jon and Judy at their house in Halifax, where Judy fed me a delicious split-pea soup, Jon talked math, dispensed advice on topics ranging from apartment hunting to paper publishing, and we discovered a shared interest in discussing politics and current events. I was to begin an AARMS postdoc in the math department at Dalhousie with Jon as one of my three co-supervisors later that summer, and was in town looking for a place to live for the coming year and completing paperwork. This day remains in my memory not just because it typified Jon’s warmth and
Continue reading What I learned from Jon
I met Jon when he had just arrived in Newcastle, Australia. Jon very quickly became and energetic and influential person in the Australian mathematical community, not in the least due to his personal and fair approach. I teach “Experimental Mathematics” as a Masters course at The University of Melbourne using his books, and was fortunate to have Jon as a guest lecturer on one occasion. I’ll remember Jon as a passionate mathematician as well as a builder, both of mathematics and human relations. I will always remember and acknowledge the support he gave to many of us, often in the
Continue reading Jon’s influence in Australian mathematics
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