Marvin Knopp, American mathematician, died he was 78.

Marvin Isadore Knopp was an American mathematician who worked primarily in number theory died he was 78.. He made notable contributions to the theory of modular forms.

(January 4, 1933 – December 24, 2011) 

Life and education

Knopp was born on 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. He received his PhD under Paul T. Bateman from the University of Illinois in 1958 where he became friends with fellow student Gene Golub.^[2] Over the course of his career, he advised twenty Ph.D. students.^[3] He is the father of pianist Seth Knopp, and of Yehudah, Abby, and Elana.^[4] Marvin was married to Dr. Josephine Zadovsky Knopp for 25 years but the marriage ended in divorce. Knopp died on December 24, 2011 during a vacation in Florida. Marvin's true loves in life were his children, old movies, great music and numbers.

Career

After receiving his PhD in 1958, Knopp taught at the University of Wisconsin and then, for a few years, at the University of Illinois Chicago before moving, in 1976, to Temple University where he stayed until his sudden death in 2011.^[5] He was closely associated with Emil Grosswald.^[6] In Jean Dieudonne's influential book A Panorama of Pure Mathematics (Academic Press, 1982), he is mentioned (p. 95) as one of those who "made substantial contributions" to the theory of modular forms.

Selected publications

• Knopp, Marvin (1970). Modular Functions in Analytic Number Theory. : Rand McNally. ISBN 0-528-60000-1.

Further reading

• American Mathematical Society. Marvin Knopp ..., ed. (1993). In Knopp, Marvin; Sheingorn, Mark. A Tribute to Emil Grosswald. Providence: American Mathematical Society. ISBN 978-0-8218-5155-5. Retrieved 2009-02-06. A set of papers in honor of Grosswald; includes reminiscences, list of PhD students, and a list of papers and books.

To see more of who died in 2011 click here