Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 23, 2026

Allen Shields

Allen Lowell Shields was an American mathematician who worked on measure theory, complex analysis, functional analysis and operator theory, and was "one of the world's leading authorities on spaces of analytic functions".

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Jul 23, 2026
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Allen Shields
Born
Allen Lowell Shields

(1927-05-07)May 7, 1927
New York, U.S.
DiedSeptember 16, 1989(1989-09-16) (aged 62)
EducationCity College of New York (BS)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsUniversity of Michigan
ThesisOn Additive Properties of Real Numbers (1952)
Witold Hurewicz
Other academic advisors
Raphaël Salem
Doctoral students

Allen Lowell Shields (May 7, 1927 – September 16, 1989) was an American mathematician who worked on measure theory, complex analysis, functional analysis and operator theory,123 and was "one of the world's leading authorities on spaces of analytic functions".4

Shields was a student of Witold Hurewicz.5

A special issue of The Mathematical Intelligencer, for which he served as editor of the "Years Ago" column, was dedicated to his memory in 1990.4

Notable students

Shields directed a large number of doctoral dissertations,45 including the 1967 PhD thesis of Theodore Kaczynski, the future "Unabomber", titled "Boundary Functions".5

References

References

  1. Duren, Peter (1990), "In remembrance of Allen Shields", The Mathematical Intelligencer, 12 (2): 11–14, doi:10.1007/BF03023995, ISSN 0343-6993, MR 1044920, S2CID 122157471
  2. Shapiro, Harold S. (1990), "Allen Lowell Shields – some reminiscences", The Mathematical Intelligencer, 12 (2): 8–10, doi:10.1007/BF03023994, MR 1044919, S2CID 120565153
  3. O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Allen Shields", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
  4. Axler, Sheldon (1990), "Dedication", The Mathematical Intelligencer, 12 (2): 3, doi:10.1007/BF03023992, MR 1044917
  5. Allen Shields at the Mathematics Genealogy Project