Marston Morse

H. C. Marston Morse
Marston Morse in 1965 (courtesy MFO)
Born	24 March 1892(1892-03-24) Waterville, Maine
Died	22 June 1977(1977-06-22) (aged 85) Princeton, New Jersey
Nationality	American
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	Harvard University
Alma mater	Colby College Harvard University
Doctoral advisor	G. D. Birkhoff
Doctoral students	Emilio Baiada Arthur B. Brown Gustav Hedlund Walter Leighton Sumner Myers
Known for	Morse theory

Harold Calvin Marston Morse (24 March 1892 – 22 June 1977) was an American mathematician best known for his work on the calculus of variations in the large, a subject where he introduced the technique of differential topology now known as Morse theory. In 1933 he was awarded the Bôcher Memorial Prize for his work in mathematical analysis.

He was born in Waterville, Maine to Ella Phoebe Marston and Howard Calvin Morse in 1892. He received his bachelor's degree from Colby College (also in Waterville) in 1914. At Harvard University, he received both his master's degree in 1915 and his Ph.D. in 1917.

He taught at Harvard, Brown, and Cornell Universities before accepting a position in 1935 at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he remained until his retirement in 1962.

He spent most of his career on a single subject, eponymously titled Morse Theory, a branch of differential topology. Morse Theory is a very important subject in modern mathematical physics, such as string theory.

Quotes

"Mathematics are the result of mysterious powers which no one understands, and which the unconscious recognition of beauty must play an important part. Out of an infinity of designs a mathematician chooses one pattern for beauty's sake and pulls it down to earth."

See also

• Thue–Morse sequence

Publications

• Morse, Marston (1981), Bott, Raoul, ed., Selected papers, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-0-387-90532-7, MR635124, http://books.google.com/books?id=UOLuAAAAMAAJ 
• Morse, Marston (1987), Montgomery, Deane; Bott, Raoul, eds., Collected papers. Vol. 1--6, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co., ISBN 9789971978945, MR889255, http://books.google.com/books?id=6Bc8bwAACAAJ 

External links

• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Marston Morse", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Morse.html .
• Marston Morse at the Mathematics Genealogy Project.

Persondata
Name	Morse, Marston
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	24 March 1892
Place of birth	Waterville, Maine
Date of death	22 June 1977
Place of death	Princeton, New Jersey