Ruth F. Curtain

{{Short description|Australian mathematician (1941–2018)}}

{{use dmy dates|cs1-dates=ly|date=April 2020}}

Ruth F. Curtain (16 July 1941 – 18 March 2018){{r|obit}} was an Australian mathematician who worked for many years in the Netherlands as a professor of mathematics at the University of Groningen. Her research concerned infinite-dimensional linear systems.{{r|rug}}

Education and career

Curtain was born in Melbourne.{{r|rug}} She was the daughter of a house painter, who wanted her to leave school at age 14, but with the support of her mother she persisted.{{r|nrc}} She studied mathematics at the University of Melbourne, earning a bachelor's degree in 1962, diploma in education in 1963, and master's degree in 1965.{{r|rug}} She moved to Brown University, in the United States, for graduate study in applied mathematics, and completed her Ph.D. there in 1969. Her dissertation, Stochastic Differential Equations In A Hilbert Space, was supervised by Peter Falb.{{r|rug|mgp}}

She then joined the faculty at Purdue University, but in 1971 moved to the University of Warwick. In 1977 she moved again, to the University of Groningen, where she remained until her 2006 retirement.{{r|rug}}

Books

Curtain was the author of:

  • Functional Analysis in Modern Applied Mathematics (with A. J. Pritchard, Academic Press, 1977){{r|famam}}
  • Infinite Dimensional Linear Systems Theory (with A. J. Pritchard, Springer, 1978){{r|idlst}}
  • An Introduction to Infinite-Dimensional Linear Systems Theory (with Hans Zwart, Springer, 1995){{r|intro}}

Awards and honours

In 1991 Curtain was elected as a Fellow of the IEEE, associated with the IEEE Control Systems Society, "for contributions to the control theory of stochastic and infinite-dimensional systems".{{r|fellow}}

In 2012 the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics gave Curtain their W. T. and Idalia Reid Prize for outstanding research in differential equations and control theory. The award citation recognized Curtain for her "fundamental contributions to the theory of infinite dimensional systems and the control of systems governed by partial and delay differential equation".{{r|reid}}

References

{{reflist|refs=

{{citation|url=http://www.ieeecss.org/member-activities/css-ieee-fellows|title=CSS IEEE Fellows|publisher=IEEE Control Systems Society|accessdate=2018-05-06|archive-date=2017-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722182419/http://ieeecss.org/member-activities/css-ieee-fellows|url-status=dead}}

Reviews of Functional Analysis in Modern Applied Mathematics:

  • Clark, Colin W., {{MR|0479787}}
  • {{citation | last = Erdélyi | first = A. | authorlink = Arthur Erdélyi | date = March 1978 | doi = 10.1017/s0013091500016023 | issue = 1 | journal = Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society | page = 92 | title = none | volume = 21| s2cid = 162243905 }}
  • {{citation|title=none|first=J. P.|last=LaSalle|authorlink=Joseph P. LaSalle|journal=American Scientist|volume=66|issue=5|date=September–October 1978|page=635|jstor=27848930}}
  • {{citation|title=none|first=Ronald B.|last=Guenther|journal=SIAM Review|volume=21|issue=3|date=July 1979|pages=409–410|jstor=2029591|doi=10.1137/1021071}}

Reviews of Infinite Dimensional Linear Systems Theory:

  • Vinter, R., {{Zbl|0389.93001}}
  • Milʹshteĭn, G. N. (1980), {{MR|0516812}}
  • {{citation | last = Russell | first = David L. | doi = 10.1090/S0273-0979-1980-14805-3 | issue = 1 | journal = Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society | mr = 1567266 | pages = 724–728 | series = New Series | title = none | volume = 3 | year = 1980| doi-access = free }}

Reviews of An Introduction to Infinite-Dimensional Linear Systems Theory:

  • Logemann, H., {{Zbl|0839.93001}}
  • Lasiecka, Irena (1996), {{MR|1351248}}
  • {{citation|title=none|first=K. A.|last=Morris|author-link=Kirsten Morris|journal=SIAM Review|volume=38|issue=3|date=September 1996|pages=536–537|jstor=2132510|doi=10.1137/1038096}}
  • {{citation|title=none|doi=10.1002/(SICI)1099-1115(199806)12:4<381::AID-ACS480>3.0.CO;2-2|date=December 1998|first=D.|last=Gilliam|journal=International Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing|volume=12|issue=4|pages=381–383|doi-access=}}
  • {{citation | last = Banks | first = S. P. | date = April 2001 | doi = 10.1016/s0005-1098(00)00199-0 | issue = 4 | journal = Automatica | pages = 630–632 | title = none | volume = 37}}

{{mathgenealogy|id=14419}}

{{citation|url=https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2015/08/15/als-enige-vrouw-in-de-wiskunde-val-je-wel-op-1523725-a657945|title=Als enige vrouw in de wiskunde val je wel op|trans-title=As the only woman in mathematics you stand out|language=Dutch|newspaper=NRC Handelsblad|first=Ellen|last=de Bruin|date=August 15, 2015}}

{{citation|title=Ruth Curtain (July 16, 1941 – March 18, 2018)|work=European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad|url=https://egmo2020.nl/2019/06/05/ruth-curtain-july-16-1941-march-18-2018/ |accessdate=9 April 2020|first1=Ellen|last1=De Bruin|first2=Dédé|last2=De Haan|first3=Hans|last3=Zwart}}

{{citation|url=https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-08/sfia-swt081012.php|title=SIAM's W. T. and Idalia Reid Prize awarded to Ruth Curtain|publisher=Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics|date=August 10, 2012|accessdate=2018-05-06}}

{{citation|url=http://www.math.rug.nl/curtain/|title=Ruth F. Curtain|publisher=University of Groningen|accessdate=2018-05-06}}

}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtain, Ruth F.}}

Category:1941 births

Category:2018 deaths

Category:20th-century Australian mathematicians

Category:20th-century Dutch mathematicians

Category:University of Melbourne alumni

Category:Brown University alumni

Category:Purdue University faculty

Category:Academics of the University of Warwick

Category:Academic staff of the University of Groningen

Category:Fellows of the IEEE

Category:21st-century Australian mathematicians

Category:21st-century Dutch mathematicians

Category:Australian expatriates in the Netherlands

Category:20th-century Australian women mathematicians

Category:21st-century women mathematicians