Bertram Kostant, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at MIT, returned to West Lafayette on May 17 to receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree at commencement exercises.
Kostant began his career at Purdue, earning a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1950. Following graduation, the Brooklyn, NY native went to the University of Chicago, where he obtained master's and doctoral degrees.
For over 40 years, Kostant has made striking, often fundamental and very influential, contributions to a broad range of topics in Lie groups, Lie algebras, homogeneous spaces, differential geometry, and mathematical physics. He is known also for the joy he brings to the study of mathematical questions and the mentoring he has provided to young researchers.
After earning his doctorate at Chicago, Kostant spent three years at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, where he was also a Higgins lecturer at Princeton University for one year. He then went to the University of California, Berkeley, where he rose from assistant to full professor in six years. His affiliation with MIT began in 1962, and he was awarded emeritus rank in 1993.
Widely honored in his field, Kostant is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the AMS Steele Prize in 1990. His career-long honors and awards also include fellowships from the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Science Foundation, and the Guggenheim and Sloan Foundations.
Professor Kostant's international reputation is reflected by the many invitations he has received to lecture in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. During the past year, he has given talks at the Universities of British Columbia, North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Rochester; at the Schroedinger Institute of Vienna; and in Ascona, Switzerland and Marseille, France. Throughout his career, Kostant has served his profession as editor, editorial board member, or advisory committee member for numerous journals and conferences.
Professor Kostant was cited by Purdue for his fundamental contributions to mathematics and the inspiration he and his work have provided to generations of researchers.