MacTutor
František Wolf was born in 1904 in Prostejov, Czechoslovakia, the son of a maker of fine furniture. He was the elder of two children, having a sister four years younger. Frank was drawn early to science and he knew that he wanted to be a mathematician or a physicist by the time he was 14. His undergraduate education at Charles University in Prague was in physics; later he turned to mathematics as a graduate student.
Frank's student years occurred during the exciting time of the founding of the Czechoslovak republic. He was a brilliant student and was awarded a gold medal and watch by President Tomas Masaryk. He knew the President's son, Jan Masaryk, as a friend. After graduate study at Masaryk University, he received the degree Rerum Naturum Doctor in 1928.
The years immediately following his degree were spent as a high school teacher. He continued his research and became very involved in politics. He was awarded a Privat Docentship at Charles University in 1937 and immediately left for a period of study at Cambridge University. There he was a member of the famous seminar of G.H. Hardy and J.E. Littlewood, where he had contact with the foremost English analysts of the period. His dissertation had been concerned with generalized trigonometric series. Now, under the stimulus of Littlewood, he began a series of papers that would include contributions to Fourier integrals, potential theory and complex analysis.
With the annexation of Austria by the Nazis in March, 1938, Frank returned to Prague and was inducted into the army. His brief service ended a year later with the occupation of his country by the Nazis. Because of his political activities it was now important for Frank to go abroad again. He had received an invitation to give a series of lectures at the Mittag-Leffler Institute in Stockholm, and miraculously the occupation authorities gave him permission to go. Armed with a German passport and permission to be away for three weeks, Frank went to Sweden and joined the underground. There he survived on a small studentship from the Swedish Government, until, in 1941, he received an invitation to teach for a year at Macalester College in Minneapolis. With war raging in Europe, Frank set off for the United States via the Trans Siberian Railroad and Japan. While passing through Berkeley, he paid a call on Griffith C. Evans, the Chair of Mathematics, whose appointments were to transform the department into a major mathematical center. Evans, who was a distinguished potential theorist, recognized Frank's talents and offered him a position. However, Frank was now committed to Macalester. His long service at Berkeley began the following year in 1942 with his appointment as Instructor of Mathematics.
Soon after he came to Berkeley, Frank's mathematical interests took a change in direction as he began to study the perturbation of linear operators. This is the theory of the behavior of the spectral properties of an operator under small changes in the operator. Such perturbation results are important, for example, in quantum mechanics where physical phenomena are interpreted through linear operators on Hilbert space. Consideration of the Schrödinger equation leads to perturbation problems for partial differential operators, where the change may occur in the coefficients of the operator or in boundary conditions. Frank's most influential papers were probably those concerned with the analytical perturbation of operators on Banach spaces and his studies on the essential spectrum of certain singular elliptic differential operators. The essential spectrum consists of those points in the spectrum which are not isolated eigenvalues. Frank showed that such points had a local origin and could be traced to components of the set of points on the boundary of the region where the ellipticity breaks down. He lectured on his work at many U.S. and European universities. In recognition of his research, the Free University of Brussels awarded him a medal in 1960.
When Frank passed through Berkeley in 1941 on his way to Macalester College, he met Myrtle Richey, a young botanist, and they were married in 1945. Their son Thomas was born in 1947. Frank learned to share Myrtle's love of wild flowers, and as a family they made uncounted trips in the spring and summer to seek them out. A summer cabin at Clipper Mills facilitated these activities. They established their home in the Berkeley hills, where Frank loved to walk. Many friends and former students will remember the hospitality of their home and their kindness and interest toward young people and colleagues.
Frank Wolf was a person of personal warmth and charm. He had a great interest in people and in cultural activities. He especially loved music and was accomplished on the piano and violin. For many years he served as a member of the Committee on Arts and Lectures which brought performing artists to the campus. In another direction he was one of the founders of the Pacific Journal of Mathematics and helped it to become an outstanding research publication. Frank was instrumental in bringing new faculty to the department in the field of analysis, both through attracting promising young people and through appointment of outstanding scholars. His interest in perturbation theory had been stimulated particularly by the work of the Japanese physicist and mathematician, Tosio Kato. He played a major role in the effort that brought Kato to the department in 1962. Always among his strongest interests was the well-being of Czechoslovakia. He had found many Czech immigrants in Minnesota, and he was a strong supporter of the Czech community in the Bay Area. During the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, a dispute arose in the Czechoslovak delegation, and Frank was chosen on one occasion to address the gathering on behalf of his country. The tragic death of Jan Masaryk in 1948 was a great blow to him.
Frank had a very intuitive, almost romantic, approach to mathematics. His interest in physics remained throughout his life and can be seen in his choice of research problems. While his early research was centered in classical analysis, he soon became an advocate of the use of Banach spaces and the methods of abstract analysis. His seminar was the nucleus for his teaching of graduate students. He was relentless in involving his students and young faculty in mathematics, and they soon found themselves at the blackboard, learning through teaching others. Twenty-four students received the Ph.D. under his direction.
Frank was also a popular and enthusiastic teacher of undergraduates and he held a strong interest in the improvement of teaching. For many years he directed National Science Foundation summer institutes at Berkeley for gifted high school students and secondary school teachers. Following his retirement in 1972, he spent a happy year at the University of Valle in Guatemala, where he directed the formation of a graduate program in mathematics.
An accidental fall in his garden led to a long period of declining health. He bore those vicissitudes with cheerfulness and courage, and he died on August 12, 1989.
Frank is survived by his wife, Myrtle, and his son, Thomas. He is remembered with affection by his many friends.
William G. Bade
Murray H. Protter
Angus E. Taylor
Frank's student years occurred during the exciting time of the founding of the Czechoslovak republic. He was a brilliant student and was awarded a gold medal and watch by President Tomas Masaryk. He knew the President's son, Jan Masaryk, as a friend. After graduate study at Masaryk University, he received the degree Rerum Naturum Doctor in 1928.
The years immediately following his degree were spent as a high school teacher. He continued his research and became very involved in politics. He was awarded a Privat Docentship at Charles University in 1937 and immediately left for a period of study at Cambridge University. There he was a member of the famous seminar of G.H. Hardy and J.E. Littlewood, where he had contact with the foremost English analysts of the period. His dissertation had been concerned with generalized trigonometric series. Now, under the stimulus of Littlewood, he began a series of papers that would include contributions to Fourier integrals, potential theory and complex analysis.
With the annexation of Austria by the Nazis in March, 1938, Frank returned to Prague and was inducted into the army. His brief service ended a year later with the occupation of his country by the Nazis. Because of his political activities it was now important for Frank to go abroad again. He had received an invitation to give a series of lectures at the Mittag-Leffler Institute in Stockholm, and miraculously the occupation authorities gave him permission to go. Armed with a German passport and permission to be away for three weeks, Frank went to Sweden and joined the underground. There he survived on a small studentship from the Swedish Government, until, in 1941, he received an invitation to teach for a year at Macalester College in Minneapolis. With war raging in Europe, Frank set off for the United States via the Trans Siberian Railroad and Japan. While passing through Berkeley, he paid a call on Griffith C. Evans, the Chair of Mathematics, whose appointments were to transform the department into a major mathematical center. Evans, who was a distinguished potential theorist, recognized Frank's talents and offered him a position. However, Frank was now committed to Macalester. His long service at Berkeley began the following year in 1942 with his appointment as Instructor of Mathematics.
Soon after he came to Berkeley, Frank's mathematical interests took a change in direction as he began to study the perturbation of linear operators. This is the theory of the behavior of the spectral properties of an operator under small changes in the operator. Such perturbation results are important, for example, in quantum mechanics where physical phenomena are interpreted through linear operators on Hilbert space. Consideration of the Schrödinger equation leads to perturbation problems for partial differential operators, where the change may occur in the coefficients of the operator or in boundary conditions. Frank's most influential papers were probably those concerned with the analytical perturbation of operators on Banach spaces and his studies on the essential spectrum of certain singular elliptic differential operators. The essential spectrum consists of those points in the spectrum which are not isolated eigenvalues. Frank showed that such points had a local origin and could be traced to components of the set of points on the boundary of the region where the ellipticity breaks down. He lectured on his work at many U.S. and European universities. In recognition of his research, the Free University of Brussels awarded him a medal in 1960.
When Frank passed through Berkeley in 1941 on his way to Macalester College, he met Myrtle Richey, a young botanist, and they were married in 1945. Their son Thomas was born in 1947. Frank learned to share Myrtle's love of wild flowers, and as a family they made uncounted trips in the spring and summer to seek them out. A summer cabin at Clipper Mills facilitated these activities. They established their home in the Berkeley hills, where Frank loved to walk. Many friends and former students will remember the hospitality of their home and their kindness and interest toward young people and colleagues.
Frank Wolf was a person of personal warmth and charm. He had a great interest in people and in cultural activities. He especially loved music and was accomplished on the piano and violin. For many years he served as a member of the Committee on Arts and Lectures which brought performing artists to the campus. In another direction he was one of the founders of the Pacific Journal of Mathematics and helped it to become an outstanding research publication. Frank was instrumental in bringing new faculty to the department in the field of analysis, both through attracting promising young people and through appointment of outstanding scholars. His interest in perturbation theory had been stimulated particularly by the work of the Japanese physicist and mathematician, Tosio Kato. He played a major role in the effort that brought Kato to the department in 1962. Always among his strongest interests was the well-being of Czechoslovakia. He had found many Czech immigrants in Minnesota, and he was a strong supporter of the Czech community in the Bay Area. During the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, a dispute arose in the Czechoslovak delegation, and Frank was chosen on one occasion to address the gathering on behalf of his country. The tragic death of Jan Masaryk in 1948 was a great blow to him.
Frank had a very intuitive, almost romantic, approach to mathematics. His interest in physics remained throughout his life and can be seen in his choice of research problems. While his early research was centered in classical analysis, he soon became an advocate of the use of Banach spaces and the methods of abstract analysis. His seminar was the nucleus for his teaching of graduate students. He was relentless in involving his students and young faculty in mathematics, and they soon found themselves at the blackboard, learning through teaching others. Twenty-four students received the Ph.D. under his direction.
Frank was also a popular and enthusiastic teacher of undergraduates and he held a strong interest in the improvement of teaching. For many years he directed National Science Foundation summer institutes at Berkeley for gifted high school students and secondary school teachers. Following his retirement in 1972, he spent a happy year at the University of Valle in Guatemala, where he directed the formation of a graduate program in mathematics.
An accidental fall in his garden led to a long period of declining health. He bore those vicissitudes with cheerfulness and courage, and he died on August 12, 1989.
Frank is survived by his wife, Myrtle, and his son, Thomas. He is remembered with affection by his many friends.
William G. Bade
Murray H. Protter
Angus E. Taylor
This University of California obituary is available at THIS LINK