David G. Cantor
{{Short description|American mathematician}}
{{Infobox person
| name = David G. Cantor
| birth_date = April 12, 1935
| death_date = November 19, 2012
| alma_mater = University of California, Los Angeles
| known_for = Cantor–Zassenhaus algorithm
}}
David Geoffrey Cantor (April 12, 1935 – November 19, 2012) was an American mathematician, specializing in number theory and combinatorics. The Cantor–Zassenhaus algorithm for factoring polynomials is named after him; he and Hans Zassenhaus published it in 1981.
Biography
Cantor was born on April 12, 1935.{{Cite magazine |date=May 2013 |title=Deaths of AMS Members |magazine=Notices of the American Mathematical Society |volume=60 |issue=5 |page=626 |url=https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/201305/201305-full-issue.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423040830/http://www.ams.org/notices/201305/rnoti-p625.pdf |archive-date=23 April 2013 |url-status=live |access-date=3 Apr 2021 |publisher=American Mathematical Society |issn=1088-9477}} He completed his undergraduate studies at the California Institute of Technology, graduating in 1956, and earned his doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1960, where he was supervised by Basil Gordon and Ernst G. Straus.[https://ww3.math.ucla.edu/in-memoriam-david-g-cantor-professor-of-mathematics-1935-2012/ In Memoriam: David G. Cantor Professor of Mathematics, 1935 - 2012], UCLA Department of Mathematics, retrieved 2014-12-18.{{mathgenealogy|name=David Geoffrey Cantor|id=40755}} He became an assistant professor at the University of Washington in 1962, moved back to UCLA in 1964, and retired in 1991. After his retirement, he worked at the Center for Communications Research in La Jolla, California.
Cantor specialized in number theory and combinatorics. The Cantor–Zassenhaus algorithm for factoring polynomials is named after him; he and Hans Zassenhaus published it in 1981.{{citation |last1=Cantor |first1=David G. |title=A new algorithm for factoring polynomials over finite fields |date=April 1981 |journal=Mathematics of Computation |volume=36 |issue=154 |pages=587–592 |doi=10.1090/S0025-5718-1981-0606517-5 |jstor=2007663 |mr=606517 |last2=Zassenhaus |first2=Hans |doi-access=free}}. He received the National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in 1960 and a Sloan Foundation Fellowship in 1968. In 2012, he became one of the inaugural fellows of the American Mathematical Society.[https://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society], retrieved 2014-12-18. At the time of his death, he had been a member of the American Mathematical Society for 54 years.
Cantor lived in San Diego, California. He died on November 19, 2012, at the age of 77.
See also
References
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Category:20th-century American mathematicians
Category:American number theorists
Category:California Institute of Technology alumni
Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Category:University of Washington faculty
Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty
Category:Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
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