Logic List Mailing Archive

Marian Pour-El (1928-2009)

In Memoriam: Marian Pour-El

Marian Pour-El, long-time professor of mathematics at the University of 
Minnesota, died on June 10, 2009. She was 81.

Born in New York City, Pour-El received her bachelor's degree in physics 
from Hunter College in New York in 1949. She received a full scholarship 
to attend graduate school at Harvard University where she earned a 
master's degree in mathematics in 1951, followed by a Ph.D. in 
mathematical logic in 1958.

Pour-El blazed a previously uncharted course for women at Harvard during 
the early 1950s. Not only was she was one of the first women to complete a
 
Ph.D. in mathematics, she also was first to study logics within 
mathematics.

After receiving her doctorate, Pour-el served as a mathematics faculty 
member at Penn State University until 1962. From 1962 to 1964, she was on
 
the visiting faculty at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton 
and worked with Kurt Gdel, one of the most important mathematicians of
 
the century. In 1964, she joined the School of Mathematics at the 
University of Minnesota and served until her retirement in 2000.

Considered a leader in her field, Pour-el's research interests included 
computability and functional analysis, and applications to physical 
theory. Over the years, she addressed many international symposia and 
conferences in logic, including the American Mathematical Society and 
Mathematical Association of America. In 1993, a symposium was held in her
 
honor in Kyoto, Japan.

Pour-el left a unique and admirable legacy with her service to the School
 
of Mathematics, and various American Mathematical Society committees. She
 
was also an inspiration and mentor to many female graduate students.