Special issue of American Mathematical Monthly devoted to Jon Borwein

Jonathan Borwein

The American Mathematical Monthly, the world’s largest-circulation mathematical journal, has published a special issue devoted to the career of Jonathan Borwein.

Here are some of the articles of the issue:

Introduction to the Special Issue, by David H. Bailey and Scott Chapman. This gives a brief overview of Borwein’s career and the contents of the special issue. This article is freely available HERE.

Jonathan Borwein: Renaissance Mathematician, by David H. Bailey. This gives an overview of Borwein’s research, emphasizing how that Borwein, in sharp contrast to the prevailing trend to specialization in modern academic research, published significant

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Report on the Jon Borwein remembrance day meeting in Paris

Jon at work

A day devoted to the memory of Jonathan Michael Borwein, who died on August 2, 2016, took place at the Henri Poincare Institute in Paris on February 10, 2017. This event was sponsored by SMAI, SMF, the Australian Society of Mathematics (AMS), the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) and the Canadian Society of Applied and Industrial Mathematics (CAIMS). About sixty persons, including colleagues from Germany, Italy, Spain, Israel, the U.S. and even Thailand, were on hand to join in this day of remembrance. The panel of speakers was made up of colleagues who either cooperated with Jon

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Michel Thera’s introduction for the Paris Jon Borwein Memorial Conference

Welcome everybody to this remembrance day devoted to Laureate Professor Jonathan Michael Borwein.

When I decided to organize this one day workshop, I had immediately the encouragements of Fatiha Alabau, president of SMAI, from Stephane Seuret, president of SMF, from Kate Smith-Smiles president of the Australian Mathe- matical Society, from Mike Bennett president of the Canadian Mathematical Society and from Matthiew Davison president of the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematical Society.

They all pass on their appreciation to all participants who are helping to honor Jon Borwein in this special way.

I would like to express my gratitude to these

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“Remembrance Day” meeting at the Institute Henri Poincare, Paris

Michel Thera has organized a “Remembrance Day”, dedicated to the memory of Jonathan M. Borwein. It will be held Friday 10 February 2017 at the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris. Speakers include:

F.J. Aragón Artacho (University of Alicante and CARMA). David H. Bailey (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory). Patrick Combettes (North Carolina State University). Ivar Ekeland (University Paris-Dauphine). Martin Grötschel (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften). Alexander Ioffe (Technion). Adrian S. Lewis (Cornell University). Matthew K. Tam (University of Göttingen and CARMA). Luc Trouche (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Lyon). Qiji (Jim) Zhu (Western Michigan University).

For additional details, please see the conference website.

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A mathematical family man (by Michael Rose)

[This is a talk by Michael Rose at a memorial service for Jonathan Borwein in Newcastle, Australia on 21 September 2016.]

It was my very great privilege to be one of Jon’s students for 5 years, one of over 70 postgraduate and postdoctoral scholars who Jon took under his wing, and after speaking with a few others it’s clear that you can take what I’m about to say and more or less multiply it by 70, there’s a lot of shared experience. You have heard much about Jon the extraordinary mathematician, and now I would like to tell you about

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My older and much wiser brother (by Brailey Sims)

[Talk by Brailey Sims at the Jon Borwein Memorial Service, 21 September 2016, Newcastle, Australia.]

This is a sad yet vital occasion. It serves to remind us of Jon the person and Jon the achiever and to look forward to the massive legacy he has left for us. But, it also helps drive home the stark and dreadful reality that we are now living in a post Jon world. As Jon steamed full speed-ahead we have for many years gyred and gymbled — two of Jon’s favourite words — in the bow waves he generated, now the juggernaut has passed

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Jonathan M. Borwein: Homo sapiens, Homo ludens

[This is a condensed version of an article written by Michel Théra, to appear in the Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications.]

Jonathan Borwein left us suddenly on August 2, 2016 at age 65. He leaves his wife Judith, three children Naomi, Rachel and Tova; five grand children Jakob Joseph, Noah Erasmus, Skye, Zoe and Taj. Jonathan Borwein was born in 1951 in St. Andrews, Scotland, to a family of intellectuals. In fact, both of his parents belonged to the world of research.His mother Bessie was an anatomist while his father, David, was a mathematician, holding a position in the

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Jon Borwein: A personal reflection

Jon Borwein died on August 2, 2016. His untimely passing has deprived us all of a singular and brilliant mind and an inspirational intellectual leader, and I have lost a close personal friend. Rather than a formal memorial, my words are a personal reflection on my coauthor (of fifteen papers and a book), a mentor to whom I owe my career.

Jon’s mathematical breadth and energy make a fascinating but bewildering picture, extending far beyond traditional optimization, and challenging to sketch. He delighted in collaboration, and many of us knew first-hand his research style: whirling, exuberant, defamiliarizing, endlessly curious, elegant,

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Letter from the Editor: Jonathan M. Borwein (1951-2016)

[This is by Scott Chapman, Editor of the American Mathematical Monthly. It is scheduled to appear in the November 2016 issue of the Monthly.]

August 2, 2016 was a difficult day for us at the Monthly, as we learned of the untimely death of Monthly Associate Editor Jonathan Borwein. Many of you knew Jon as an internationally acclaimed mathematician. One of the world’s leading scholars in Experimental Mathematics, his long publication list spanned the breadth of pure and applied mathematics. Cited over 22,000 times (according to Google Scholar), Jon was perhaps the world’s leading authority on the study of pi.

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Jon made us big

I first met Jon Borwein at Goldberg’s restaurant on Darby Street in Newcastle. I had arrived in Australia for the first time in the midst of one of its characteristic week-long winter storms. Having not yet slept, I was worried I would be too tired to carry on a lively and intelligent conversation with him. I confided this to my co-advisor who reassured me, “Don’t worry; he’ll take care of that for you.”

I always dislike referring to anyone as a “genius” because I worry that doing so will reinforce for my students the mistaken belief that only certain, special

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