CAMPUS CURRENT Faculty News
In Memoriam
Melvin Henriksen Additionally, Henriksen also helped write Single Variable Cal-
Melvin Henriksen, professor of math- culus with an Introduction to Numerical Methods, with M. Lees
ematics emeritus at Harvey Mudd (1970), and participated in the film “Infinite Acres,” which
College, passed away on Oct. 14 in was produced by the Mathematical Association of America
Albuquerque, N.M., at the age of 82. in 1965.
A significant portion of his life was
spent at Harvey Mudd College where
HMC mourned the loss of two members of its
he served as a professor of mathemat-
ics from 1969 to 1997. After retiring, he was a very active
mathematics community, both pioneers in their
member of the HMC community.
respective fields.
“Mel was among the most published mathematicians in
Claremont and had a wide array of international contacts and
collaborators,” said Bob Cave, vice president for academic Alvin White
affairs and dean of faculty. “He did a wonderful job of raising HMC hosted a program honoring the life of emeritus Professor
the profile of mathematics at HMC. We will deeply miss the of Mathematics Emeritus Alvin White on Sept. 23. Professor
passion and care he continued to bring to his work each day Reuben Hersh, of the University of New Mexico, spoke about
throughout his career, as well as his sense of humor.” “Alvin White and Humanistic Mathematics,” followed by a
Henriksen was well known in the mathematics community reception and remembrance of White’s life.
for his work on the study of rings of continuous functions, White died June 2, 2009.
which involve the interplay of algebra and topology. As a ma- “Alvin served the college from 1962 un-
jor innovator in a part of topology developed mostly in the til his retirement in 1996 with grace, kind-
second half of the 20th century, his work on “rings of con- ness and good humor,” said Vice President
tinuous functions” helped create a new field of mathematics and Dean of Faculty Robert Cave in an
that combines topology with modern algebra. This new math- announcement to the college community.
ematics started with a seminar he co-organized in 1954–55. “He loved mathematics and was a strong
During his diverse and varied career as a math professor, advocate within and beyond HMC for see-
Henriksen also received recognition for his attempt to apply ing mathematics as a humanistic discipline.
mathematics in order to reduce the amount of waiting time He was also a friendly and supportive senior
spent by citizens called for jury duty. Together with a group colleague to young faculty.”
of six students from The Claremont Colleges and colleague Before coming to HMC, White was a member of the Math
George Orland, Henriksen devised a system for reducing Research Center at the University of Wisconsin. He earned his
waiting time for jurors for the Superior Court of Los Angeles A.B. in liberal arts at Columbia University, his M.A. in math-
County. ematics at UCLA and his Ph.D. in mathematics at Stanford
Known for speaking his mind and articulating a clear argu- University.
ment, Henriksen was a staunch enforcer of having his math White served for many years as project director for the
students write their answers in complete and logical sentences. Interdisciplinary Holistic Teaching/Learning Program at The
On the first day of any class, he was sure to tell students, “I am Claremont Colleges. In 1971, he was called upon to take part
more interested in how you arrive at answers to problems than in the State of California’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Writ-
I am in the answer itself.” ing Standards.
Henriksen is the unnamed third author on the well-known In addition to his teaching and research at HMC, White
book Rings of Continuous Functions by Meyer Jerison and was the founding editor of Humanistic Mathematics Network
Leonard Gillman, past president of the Mathematical Asso- Journal, which was part of a resurgence in the recognition of
ciation of America. Henriksen also wrote a paper with Gillman mathematics as a humanistic discipline.
on “real closed fields” that Madden calls “an ancient monument
in real algebraic geometry—Stonehenge for the discipline.”
FALL/WINTER 2009 Harvey Mudd College 9
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