Martin Davis (mathematician)

Martin David Davis (born March 8, 1928) is an American mathematician, known for his work on Hilbert's tenth problem.[1][2]

For other people named Martin Davis, see Martin Davis (disambiguation).
Martin Davis
Born (1928-03-08) March 8, 1928
New York City
NationalityAmerican
Alma materPrinceton University
Known forDavis–Putnam algorithm
DPLL algorithm
work on Hilbert's tenth problem
AwardsChauvenet Prize (1975)
Scientific career
InstitutionsNew York University
ThesisOn the Theory of Recursive Unsolvability (1950)
Doctoral advisorAlonzo Church
Doctoral studentsMoshe Koppel, Donald W. Loveland

Biography

Davis's parents were Jewish immigrants to the US from Łódź, Poland, and married after they met again in New York City. Davis grew up in the Bronx, where his parents encouraged him to obtain a full education.[1][2]

He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1950, where his advisor was Alonzo Church.[1][2][3] He is Professor Emeritus at New York University.

Contributions

Davis is the co-inventor of the Davis–Putnam algorithm and the DPLL algorithms. He is also known for his model of Post–Turing machines, and his work on Hilbert's tenth problem leading to the MRDP theorem.

Awards and honors

In 1975, Davis won the Leroy P. Steele Prize, the Chauvenet Prize (with Reuben Hersh), and in 1974 the Lester R. Ford Award for his expository writing related to his work on Hilbert's tenth problem.[2][4] He became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1982,[2] and in 2012, he was selected as one of the inaugural fellows of the American Mathematical Society.[5]

Selected publications
Books
  • Davis, Martin (1958). Computability and Unsolvability. New York: Dover. ISBN 0-486-61471-9.
  • Davis, Martin (1977). Applied nonstandard analysis. New York: Wiley. ISBN 9780471198970.
  • Davis, Martin; Weyuker, Elaine J.; Sigal, Ron (1994). Computability, complexity, and languages: fundamentals of theoretical computer science (2nd ed.). Boston: Academic Press, Harcourt, Brace. ISBN 9780122063824.
  • Davis, Martin (2000). Engines of logic: mathematicians and the origin of the computer. New York: Norton. ISBN 9780393322293.
Articles
  • Davis, Martin (1973), "Hilbert's Tenth Problem is Unsolvable", American Mathematical Monthly, 80(3), 233–269.
  • Davis, Martin (1995), "Is mathematical insight algorithmic", Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 13(4), 659–60.

See also

References
  1. Jackson, Allyn (September 2007), "Interview with Martin Davis" (PDF), Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (published May 2008), 55 (5), pp. 560–571, ISSN 0002-9920, OCLC 1480366.
  2. O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Martin Davis (mathematician)", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.
  3. Martin Davis at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  4. Davis, Martin (1973). "Hilbert's tenth problem is unsolvable". Amer. Math. Monthly. 80 (3): 233–269. doi:10.2307/2318447. JSTOR 2318447.
  5. List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society, retrieved 2014-03-17.
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