Wolfgang Wasow was a Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics. The Wolfgang Wasow Memorial Lecture is an annual lecture made possible by a generous endowment established by his children after his death in 1993. Professor Wasow joined the Department in 1957 and was Chair from 1970 to 1972. He retired as Rudolf E. Langer Professor of Mathematics in 1980.
Wolfgang’s research speciality was asymptotic expansions and their applications in differential equations. He wrote three, now classic, books “Finite Difference Methods for Partial Differential Equations” (with G.E. Forsythe) published in 1960, “Asymptotic expansions for ordinary differential equations” published in 1965 (revised in 1976), and “Linear Turning Point Theory” published in 1985. Among his non-mathematical interests were music, literature, and languages.
Wolfgang Wasow Lecturers
| Year | Lecturer |
|---|---|
| 1996 | Jürgen Moser |
| 1997 | Joseph Keller |
| 1998 | Louis Nirenberg |
| 1999 | Cathleen Morawetz |
| 2000 | L.C. Evans |
| 2001 | Peter Lax |
| 2002 | John-Erik Fornaess |
| 2003 | Nancy Kopell |
| 2004 | Michael Christ |
| 2005 | Stan Osher |
| 2006 | Elias M. Stein |
| 2007 | Barry Simon |
| 2008 | Yum Tong Siu |
| 2009 | Michael Crandall |
| 2010 | Peter Markowich |
| 2011 | Henri Berestycki |
| 2013 | Laure Saint Raymond |
| 2014 | Christopher D. Sogge |
| 2017 | Benoit Perthame |
| 2017 | Sylvia Serfaty |
| 2018 | Hitoshi Ishii |
| 2019 | Vladimir Sverak |
| 2021 | Jon Chapman |
| 2023 | Rupert Klein |