Verena Huber-Dyson: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|Swiss-American mathematician (1923-20161923–2016)}}

| birth_name = Verena Esther Huber

| birth_date = {{birthBirth date |1923|05|06}}

| citizenship = Swiss, {{hlist|Switzerland|United States, Canada}}

| workplaces = {{ublistUnbulleted list | [[University of California, Berkeley]] | [[Adelphi University]] | [[UCLAUniversity of California, Los Angeles]] | [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]] | [[University of Calgary]]}}

| education = [[University of ZurichZürich]]

| known_for = {{ubl|[[Group theory]]|[[Mathematical logic]]}}

| spouses = {{ublistubl | {{Marriage|Hans-Georg Haefeli|1942|1948|end=div}} | {{Marriage|[[Freeman Dyson]] (|1950–|1958)|end=div}}}}

| children = {{ublistubl | Katarina Halm |[[Esther Dyson]] |[[George Dyson (science historian)|George Dyson]]}}

'''Verena Esther Huber-Dyson''' (May 6, 1923 &nbsp;– March 12, 2016) was a Swiss-American mathematician, known for her work inon [[group theory]] and [[Mathematical logic|formal logic]].<ref name="obituary" /><ref name="nyt-2009">Nicholas {{sfn|Dawidoff, [https://www.nytimes.com/|2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html "The Civil Heretic"], ''[[New York Times]]'', March 29, 2009.</ref> }} She has been described as a "brilliant mathematician",<ref name="nyt-{{sfn|Dawidoff|2009"}} /> andwho did research on the interface between [[algebra]] and [[logic]], focusing on [[undecidable problem|undecidability]] in [[group theory]]. At the time of her death, she was emeritus faculty in the philosophy department of the [[University of Calgary]], Alberta.

== Life and careerBiography ==

=== FamilyEarly life and early life education===

Huber-Dyson was born Verena Esther Huber in [[Naples]], [[Italy]], on May 6, 1923. Her parents, Karl (Charles) Huber (1893-19461893–1946) and Berthy Ryffel (1899-19451899–1945), were Swiss nationals<ref>{{cite journalsfn|last=Schewe|first=Phillip2013|title=Maverick Genius: The Pioneering Odyssey of Freeman Dyson|journal=Physics Today|volume=66|issue=6|pagesp=52|year=2013|ref=harv|bibcode=2013PhT....66f..52B|doi=10.1063/PT.3.2012}}</ref> who raised Verena and her sister Adelheid ("Heidi", 1925-19871925–1987) in [[Athens]], [[Greece]], where the girls attended the German-speaking ''Deutsche Schule'', or [[German School of Athens]], until forced to return to Switzerland in 1940 by the war.

Charles Huber, who had managed the Middle Eastern operations of Bühler AG, a Swiss food-process engineering firm, began working for the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC), monitoring the treatment of prisoners of war in internment camps. As the ICRC delegate to India and Ceylon, he was responsible for Italian prisoners held in British camps, but also visited German and Allied camps in Europe,. and inIn 1945-46 he served as an ICRC delegate to the United States, which he described to Verena as a place she "definitely ought to experience at length and in depth but just as definitely ought not to settle in."<ref name="obituary" />

She studied mathematics, with minors in physics and philosophy, at the [[University of Zurich]], where she obtained her Ph.D. in mathematics in 1947 with a thesis in [[Finite group|finite group theory]].{{sfn|Haefeli-Huber|1948}}<ref>''Ein Dualismusname="jocfer" als Klassifikationsprinzip in der abstrakten Gruppentheorie'' (dissertation).</ref><ref name="jocferMathGen">John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson, [http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Dyson.html Freeman Dyson], The MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St. Andrews Scotland (last visited March 14, 2014).</ref><ref>{{MathGenealogy|id=90286}}</ref> under the supervision of [[Andreas Speiser]].

Huber-Dyson accepted a postdoctoral fellow appointment at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in [[Princeton University|Princeton]] in 1948,<ref>[http://www.ias.edu/people/cos/users/vhaefeli01 Directory] {{webarchive|urlname=https://web.archiveias.org/web/20130107133237/http://www.ias.edu/people/cos/users/vhaefeli01 |date=2013-01-07 }}, ''A Community of Scholars: Institute for Advanced Study'', [[Institute for Advanced Study]] (last visited March 14, 2014)</ref> where she worked on [[group theory]] and [[Mathematical logic|formal logic]].{{sfn|ScheweFeferman|2013Feferman|2004|pp=72272-276}}{{sfn|FefermanSchewe|Feferman2013|2004|ppp=272-27672}} She also began teaching at [[Goucher College]] near Baltimore during this time.{{sfn|Schewe|pp2013|p=72|2013}}

She moved to California with her daughter Katarina, began teaching at [[San Jose State University]] in 1959, and then joined [[Alfred Tarski]]'s Group in Logic and the Methodology of Science at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. {{sfn|Feferman|Feferman|2004|pp=272-276}} <ref name="edge-godel">Verena {{sfn|Huber-Dyson, [https://www.edge.org/conversation/g-oumldel-in-a-nutshell "Gödel in a Nutshell"], ''Edge'', May 13, |2006.</ref>}}

Huber-Dyson taught at [[San Jose State University]], the [[University of Zürich]], [[Monash University]], as well as at [[UCUniversity of California, Berkeley]], [[Adelphi University]], [[UCLAUniversity of California, Los Angeles]], and the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]], in mathematics and in philosophy departments. She accepted a position in the philosophy department of the [[University of Calgary]] in 1973, becoming emerita in 1988.{{sfn|Schewe|2013|p=}}

[[File:Verena Huber-Dyson.jpg|thumb|alt=Self-portrait|[[Hand with Reflecting Sphere|Self-portrait]], 1954<ref name="conversation-vhd" />{{sfn|Brockman|2016}}]]

==== Academic Affiliationsaffiliations after September 1968 ====

* Department of Mathematics, [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] (September 1968—June1968&nbsp;– June 1971) tenure-track Assistant Professor

* Department of Philosophy, [[University of Calgary]] (September 1971–-June1971 –June 1972) nontenure-track

* Department of Mathematics, University of Illinois at Chicago (September 1972—June1972&nbsp;– June 1973) tenured Associate Professor

* Department of Philosophy, University of Calgary (September 1973–-1973&nbsp;– June 1975) tenure-track Assistant Professor

* Department of Philosophy, University of Calgary (September 1977–-1977&nbsp;– June 1981) tenured Associate Professor.

* Department of Philosophy, University of Calgary (September 1981–-1981&nbsp;– June 1988) Full Professor

* Department of Philosophy, [[University of Calgary]] (September 1988–-1988&nbsp;– March 2016) Emerita Professor

=== Activities while at Calgary ===

* Began work on the monograph, Gödel's theorems: a workbook on formalization<ref>{{Cite booksfn|title=Gödel's Theorems: A Workbook on Formalization|last=Huber-Dyson|first=Verena|publisher=Teubner|year=1991|isbn=9783815420232|location=|pagesp=}}</ref> (published by Teubner in 1991)

=== Non-academic Employmentemployment ===

| image1 = [https://www.flickr.com/photos/vhd/200618194 July 28, 2006]<ref>{{Cite web|urlname=https://www.flickr.com/photos/vhd/200618194/|title=JulyFlickr 28, 2006 |date=2006-04-22|accessdate=2020-02-26|via=Flickr}}</ref>

* {{cite journal|last1=Huber-Dyson|first1=Verena|title=On the Decision Problem for Theories of Finite Models|journal=[[Israel Journal of Mathematics]]|date=1964|volume=2|issue=1|pages=55–70|doi=10.1007/bf02759735|doi-access=|s2cid=122395102}}

* {{cite journal|last1=Huber-Dyson|first1=Verena|title=On the Decision Problem for Extensions of a Decidable Theory|journal=Fundamenta Mathematicae|date=1969|volume=64|pages=7–40|doi=10.4064/fm-64-1-7-40|doi-access=free}}

* {{cite journal|last1=Huber-Dyson|first1=Verena|title=Talking about Free Groups in Naturally Enriched Languages|journal=Communications in Algebra|date=1977|volume=5|issue=11|pages=1163–1191|doi=10.1080/00927877708822214}}

* {{cite journal|last1=Huber-Dyson|first1=Verena|title=An Inductive Theory for Free Products of Groups|journal=Algebra Universalis|date=1979|volume=9|pages=35–44|doi=10.1007/BF02488014|s2cid=119943802}}

* {{cite conference|last1=Huber-Dyson|first1=Verena|title=Symmetric Groups and the Open Sentence Problem|booktitlebook-title=Patras Logic Symposium|publisher=North-Holland|date=1982}}

* {{cite conference|last1=Huber-Dyson|first1=Verena|title=Finiteness Conditions and the Word Problem|booktitlebook-title=Groups St. Andrews 1981|series=LMS Lecture Notes|date=1982|volume=71}}

* {{cite conference|last1=Huber-Dyson|first1=Verena|title=Decision Problems in Group Theory|booktitlebook-title=Recent Trends in Mathematics, Reinhardsbrunn 1982| series=Teubner Texte zur Mathematik|date=1982|volume=50}}

* {{cite conference|last1=Huber-Dyson|first1=Verena|title=HNN-constructing Finite Groups|booktitlebook-title=Groups Korea 1983|series=Springer Lecture Notes in Mathematics|date=1984|volume=1098}}

* {{cite journalweb|last1=Huber-Dyson|first1=Verena|title=Gödel AndOn The Nature Of Mathematical TruthConcepts: Why And How Do Mathematicians Jump To IIConclusions?|date=2005-07-26}}<ref>{{Cite15 webFebruary 1998|url=https://www.edge.org/conversation/verena_huber_dyson-g%C3%B6del-andon-the-nature-of-mathematical-truthconcepts-ii|last1=Huberwhy-Dyson|first1=Verena|title=Gödel And The Nature Of Mathematical Truth IIand-how-do-mathematicians|website=Edge.org|accessdateaccess-date=2020-02-26|date=2005-07-26}}</ref>

* {{cite journalweb|last1=Huber-Dyson|first1=Verena|title=Gödel InAnd AThe NutshellNature Of Mathematical Truth II|date=2006-05-13}}<ref>{{Cite27 web|last1=Huber-Dyson|first1=VerenaJuly 2005|url=https://www.edge.org/conversation/verena_huber_dyson-g%C3%B6del-inand-athe-nutshell|title=Gödel In A Nutshellnature-of-mathematical-truth-ii|website=Edge.org|accessdateaccess-date=2020-02-26|date=2006-05-13}}</ref>