Max A. Woodbury
{{Short description|American mathematician (1917–2010)}}
Max Atkin Woodbury (1917–2010) was an American mathematician. He was born in St George, Utah to Angus Munn Woodbury and Grace (Atkin) Woodbury.{{Cite web |title=United States Census, 1920, entry for Entry for Angus M Woodbury and Grace Woodbury |website=FamilySearch |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8PT-2SZ |access-date=16 April 2024}}{{Cite news |date=26 March 1944 |title=Utahns move ahead in U.S. Forces |url=https://sg30p0.familysearch.org/service/records/storage/dascloud/patron/v2/TH-7750-122989-39245-63/thumbMobile.jpg?ctx=ArtCtxPublic&session=p0-uWJMkq1p_RH.q7~1iR5ehFa |access-date=16 April 2024 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune}}{{Cite journal |last=Tanner |first=Vasco M. |date=1965 |title=Angus Munn Woodbury 1886-1964 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/1717 |journal=The Great Basin Naturalist |volume=25 |pages=81–88 |doi=10.5962/bhl.part.1717 |issn=0017-3614|doi-access=free }} He had three brothers and two sisters, including the biologists Dixon Miles Woodbury and John Walter Woodbury.
Career
He received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Utah in 1939, Master of Science from the University of Michigan in 1941 and metrology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.{{Cite web |date=16 April 2024 |title=Max Atkin Woodbury, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1947 |website=FamilySearch |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSZX-H3J9-7?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQ2WP-KHTX&action=view}} He obtained his doctorate at the University of Michigan in 1948 advised by Arthur Herbert Copeland. His dissertation was entitled Probability and Expected Values.{{mathgenealogy|id=5166}}
He was a member of the faculty, University of Michigan 1947-1949, Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton 1949-1950,{{Cite web |title=Max Woodbury, IAS Scholars record |url=https://www.ias.edu/scholars/max-woodbury |access-date=16 April 2024}} member of faculty Princeton University 1950-1952. He moved to be an associate professor in statistics at the University of Pennsylvania from 1952-1954.{{Cite news |date=1 November 1954 |title=University of Pennsylvania Faculty Staff Newsletter |url=https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/v01pdf/n01/110154.pdf |access-date=17 April 2024 |pages=4}} After a brief leave at the Office of Naval Research 1954-1956,{{Cite journal |date=1955 |title=News and Notices |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2236774 |journal=The Annals of Mathematical Statistics |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=163–188 |jstor=2236774 |issn=0003-4851}} he became faculty at New York University from 1956-1965,{{Cite journal |date=1956 |title=Meeting (includes Max Woodbury NYU as contact) |url=https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/8.3744 |journal=Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences |language=en |volume=23 |issue=12 |pages=1074 |doi=10.2514/8.3744 |issn=1936-9956}}{{Cite journal |last=Calvey |first=George L |date=1964 |title=The prediction of disease |url=https://archive.org/download/NavyMedicalNewsletter19640417/Navy%20Medical%20Newsletter%201964-04-17.pdf |journal=US Navy Medical News Letter |volume=43 |issue=8 |pages=6}} then a professor of computer science and biomathematics at Duke University.{{Cite journal |last=Woodbury |first=Max |title=Longitudinal Models of Correlates of Aging and Longevity |url=https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R37-AG003188-07 |journal=US NIH Grant Database |language=en}}{{Cite report |url=https://www.science.org/do/10.1126/article.40319/abs/ |title=Random Numbers Behaving Too Orderly? |date=2021-08-01 |doi=10.1126/article.40319 |language=en}} He became an emeritus professor at Duke, but continued to take an active role in research for many years.{{Cite web |date=2000-12-01 |title=Duke University Alumni Magazine |url=https://alumni.duke.edu/magazine/articles/duke-university-alumni-magazine-320 |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=Duke |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Publications of Max A. Woodbury at Duke and elsewhere |url=https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Max-A-Woodbury-39926582 |access-date=17 April 2024 |website=Research Gate}}
Woodbury identity
The Woodbury matrix identity used in linear algebra is named after him.Max A. Woodbury, Inverting modified matrices, Memorandum Rept. 42, Statistical Research Group, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 1950, 4pp {{MR|38136}}Max A. Woodbury, The Stability of Out-Input Matrices. Chicago, Ill., 1949. 5 pp. {{MR|32564}} The related Sherman–Morrison formula is a special case of the formula,{{cite journal
|first1=Jack |last1=Sherman
|first2=Winifred J. |last2=Morrison
|title=Adjustment of an Inverse Matrix Corresponding to Changes in the Elements of a Given Column or a Given Row of the Original Matrix (abstract)
|journal=Annals of Mathematical Statistics
|volume=20 |pages=621 |year=1949
|doi=10.1214/aoms/1177729959
|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal
|first1=Jack |last1=Sherman
|first2=Winifred J. |last2=Morrison
|title=Adjustment of an Inverse Matrix Corresponding to a Change in One Element of a Given Matrix
|journal=Annals of Mathematical Statistics
|volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=124–127 |year=1950
|doi=10.1214/aoms/1177729893 |mr=35118 | zbl=0037.00901
|doi-access=free }}{{Citation
|last1=Press
|first1=William H.
|last2=Teukolsky
|first2=Saul A.
|last3=Vetterling
|first3=William T.
|last4=Flannery
|first4=Brian P.
|title=Numerical Recipes: The Art of Scientific Computing
|edition=3rd
|year=2007
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|location=New York
|isbn=978-0-521-88068-8
|chapter=Section 2.7.1 Sherman–Morrison Formula
|chapter-url=http://apps.nrbook.com/empanel/index.html?pg=76
|access-date=2011-08-08
|archive-date=2012-03-19
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319193522/http://apps.nrbook.com/empanel/index.html?pg=76
|url-status=dead
}} with the term Sherman-Morrison-Woodbury sometimes used. An early overview of some of its uses has been given by Hager,{{Cite journal |last=Hager |first=William W. |date=1989 |title=Updating the Inverse of a Matrix |url=http://epubs.siam.org/doi/10.1137/1031049 |journal=SIAM Review |language=en |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=221–239 |doi=10.1137/1031049 |issn=0036-1445}} see also the book "Woodbury Matrix Identity".{{Cite book |last1=Surhone |first1=Lambert M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v8iZcQAACAAJ |title=Woodbury Matrix Identity |last2=Timpledon |first2=Miriam T. |last3=Marseken |first3=Susan F. |date=2010 |publisher=VDM Publishing |isbn=978-613-1-18691-2 |language=en}} These methods are taught in many mathematics courses on linear algebra.
Awards
- Fellow, 1960, American Statistical Association{{Cite web |title=American Statistical Association |url=https://www.amstat.org/ |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=American Statistical Association}}
- Honored Fellow, Institute of Mathematical Statistics{{Cite web |title=Institute of Mathematical Statistics {{!}} Honored IMS Fellows |url=https://imstat.org/honored-ims-fellows/ |access-date=2024-04-17 |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodbury, Max A.}}
Category:American mathematicians
Category:University of Utah alumni
Category:University of Michigan alumni
Category:University of North Carolina alumni
Category:University of Michigan faculty
Category:Princeton University faculty
Category:University of Pennsylvania faculty
Category:New York University faculty
Category:Duke University faculty
Category:Fellows of the American Statistical Association
Category:Fellows of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics
{{US-mathematician-stub}}