Logic List Mailing Archive

Thomas Strahm (1965-2021)

Dr. Thomas Strahm (1965-2021)

We are sorry to have to tell you that our friend and colleague Thomas Strahm 
passed away peacefully in the morning of April 26 after four years of 
suffering. His death was, however, sudden and unexpected.

Thomas Strahm, born in Bern, obtained his PhD in 1996 at the University of Bern 
with a thesis entitled "On the Proof Theory of Applicative Theories". In this 
thesis he provided the foundations for explicit mathematics as a useful and 
powerful framework for so-called bounded systems that characterize various 
complexity classes. Thomas is well-known for his many contributions to 
mathematical logic and theoretical computer science, more specifically, proof 
theory, explicit mathematics, higher type functionals in an applicative 
context, and applicative theories for computational complexity. He was one of 
the leading experts of explicit mathematics and made groundbreaking 
contributions to the metapredicativity program and the unfolding of theories.

In addition to his many important research contributions, Thomas was deeply 
committed to the teaching of logic and theoretical computer science at all 
levels. Our students loved his courses. And those who had the privilege of 
having Thomas as thesis supervisor were always in a "safe haven" and could 
count on his full support.

The center of Thomas's research and teaching was the University of Bern, but he 
spent extended research stays at the Mathematical Institute of the Czech 
Academy of Sciences in Prague, Stanford University, the Mittag-Leffler 
Institute of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, and the 
University of Swansea. He was president of the Swiss Society for Logic and 
Philosophy of Sciences SSLPS from 2010 to 2013. He also served as editor of the 
Journal of Symbolic Logic for many years.

In 1998 Thomas Strahm's research was honored by the Theodor-Kocher-Prize, and 
in 2001 he was awarded the Haller medal of the University of Bern. In 2019 he 
received the University's recognition for outstanding achievements in teaching.

But most important of all: Thomas was a good and empathetic colleague with a 
wide range of interests who always had an open ear for everyone. He was a very 
positive character who never lost his courage and confidence, even during his 
serious illness.

We will miss him very much.

Gerhard Jaeger and Thomas Studer
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