Norman Arthur Wiegmann

Norman Arthur Wiegmann (13 April 1920–14 November 2001) was a mathematician specializing in modern algebra, in particular linear algebra and matrix theory, who spent a major part of his career teaching at universities such as the George Washington University. He never married, and did not have any children.

Education

Wiegmann received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California, majoring in mathematics, in 1941. He then attended the University of Wisconsin, where he earned his Master of Arts Degree in 1943 and his Ph.D. in 1947, both in the field of mathematics. He studied with Cyrus MacDuffee, co-author of the Latimer-MacDuffee theorem.

Teaching career

Wiegmann held numerous academic teaching assignments, beginning with his student days under MacDuffee at the University of Wisconsin, where he was a teaching assistant from 1942–1947, with interruptions. He then served as an instructor at the University of Michigan from 1947 to 1951. He left the Midwest to take up a position as a research mathematician at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington D.C., and in connection with this work, he taught a graduate course in group theory at American University during the autumn session of 1952 to 1953. He then taught as an Associate Professor, followed by full Professor at Catholic University of America from 1953 to 1960, where he also advised three students, Dominick Finn, Matthew Audibert, and Harry Hock, on their Masters of Arts degrees, acting as the director of their dissertations, and he read the Ph.D. dissertation for William Lake. After leaving Catholic University, he went on to teach at the George Washington University. He worked there from 1960 to 1966. He continued to teach, this time on the west coast, at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He served as chair of their math department until the mid to late 1970’s, and retired from there in 1985.

Publications

Wiegmann conducted research throughout his adult life. His Ph.D. dissertation was entitled The theory of Normal Matrices with some Analogs of Generalized Principle Axis Transformation. His publications in later life include, "Some Analogs of the Generalized Principal Axis Transformation," published in the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, Vol. 54, 1948. “Normal Products of Matrices,” published in the Duke Mathematical Journal, Vol. 15, No. 3, September, 1948. “A Note on Infinite Normal Matrices,” published in the Duke mathematical Journal, Vol. 16, No. 4, December, 1949. “A Note on Pair of Normal Matrices with Property L,” published in the Proceedings of the American Mathematics Society, Vol. 4, No. 1, February, 1953. “Computational Experience in Solving Linear Programs.” co- authored with A. Hoffman, M. Mannos, and D. Sokolowsky, published in the first issue of the Journal of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Vol. 1, 1953. “Some Theorems on Matrices with Real Quaternion Elements,” published in the Canadian Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 7, April, 1955. “Some Generalization of Burnside’s Theorem,” published in the Canadian Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 9, 1957, “The Transpose of a Matrix,” in Portugalia Mathematicae, Vol. 18, No. 3-4. “Canonical Forms For Certain Matrices Under Unitary Congruence,” co-authored with Joseph Stander, Published in the Canadian Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 12, July, 1960. “Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Unitary Similarity, published in the Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society, Vol. 2, 1961/62. “Trace Properties of Semigroups of Matrices with Quaternion Elements,” published in the Duke Mathematical Journal, Vol. 29, No. 1, 1962. “Infinite Quasi-Normal Matrices,” published in the Canadian Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 25, No. 4, 1973.

Other Achievements

Wiegmann was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa in 1940, joined the American Mathematical Society in 1942, and Sigma Xi, in 1943.

References

1- G.W. Math Professors. Special Collections and University Archives, Gelman Library, the George Washington University, Retrieved on the date of 17 October, 2007

2- The Mathematics Genealogy Project.NDSU Department of Mathematics. Retrieved on 17 October, 2007

3- University Bulletins. Special Collections and University Archives, Gelman Library, the George Washington University, Retrieved on 16 November, 2007

4- The Catholic University of America, The Catholic University of America Course Catalog, 1952-62, The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives (hereafter ACUA), The Catholic University of America, Washington D.C.

5- The American Catholic History research center and University Archives (hereafter ACUA), the Catholic University of America

6- Inverview with Frank Miles, 2 December, 2007. Member of CSUDH math department from 1972 to 2001