Daniel Solow Author’s Award 2024

My book, Proof and the Art of Mathematics (MIT Press 2020), has been awarded the 2024 Daniel Solow Author’s Award by the Mathematical Association of America.

Proof and the Art of Mathematics, MIT Press, 2020

The MAA asked me to write a brief response to receiving the award…

One of the great pleasures for any mathematician is to share the fascination and wonder of mathematics with those who are eager to learn it—to teach aspiring mathematical minds the art of mathematics, watching as they bend the logical universe to their purpose for the first time. They bring one idea into reactive contact with another, and we observe a carefully controlled explosion of insight, an Aha! moment, the natural consequence of clear and correct mathematical proof. What a joy it has been for me to experience these moments with my students using my book Proof and the Art of Mathematics, and I am truly honored by the recognition of the Daniel Solow award for this book. I am so glad to learn that others have understood so well what I was trying to do with the book and that they also have benefitted from it.

The book is filled with theorems, good solid theorems, theorems which even experienced mathematicians find compelling, but all of them are amenable to elementary proof. I find it an ideal context for teaching the craft of proof writing, showcasing a range of proof methods and styles. Many theorems are proved several times in completely different ways, using different argument methods that engage the problem from totally different perspectives. One thus realizes how a mathematician’s mind expands.

Every chapter ends with a discussion of various mathematical habits of mind, tidbits of wisdom on how to be a mathematician. State claims explicitly, not only for the benefit of your readers but for the clarity of your own conceptions. In your mathematical thinking and analysis, Use metaphor, which can provide a scaffolding of thought for otherwise difficult or abstract mathematical ideas. For mastery and insight, Express key ideas several times in different ways, thereby exploring your concepts more thoroughly. In every mathematical context, Have favorite examples, for they provide a playground of test cases to deepen understanding.

For a taste of the book, let me ask you: If two polygons have the same area, can you cut the first with a scissors into finitely many pieces that can be rearranged exactly to form the second? You’ll find out in chapter 10. What about a square and circle of the same area, allowing cuts along curves? What about higher dimensions?


The book has a supplementary text with many further examples and extensions of the ideas and discussion, including answers to all the odd-numbered exercises and more.

See also the nice announcement at Notre Dame.

On the strength of second-order set theories beyond ZFC, PSC-CUNY Research Award grant, 2016

J. D. Hamkins, On the strength of second-order set theories beyond ZFC, PSC-CUNY Research Award grant #69573-00 47, funded for 2016-2017.

Abstract. Professor Hamkins proposes to undertake research in the area of logic and foundations known as set theory, focused on the comparative strengths of several of the second-order set theories upon which several prominent recent research efforts have been based. These theories span the range from ZFC through GBC, plus various comprehension, transfinite recursion or class determinacy principles, up to KM and through the hierarchy to KM+ and beyond. Hamkins’s recent result with Gitman characterizing the precise strength of clopen determinacy for proper class games is a good start for the project, but many open questions remain, and Hamkins outlines various strategies that might solve them.

On sabbatical, CUNY Fellowship Leave, academic year 2014 – 2015

CUNY GCI shall be on sabbatical from CUNY for the 2014 – 2015 academic year, under the CUNY Fellowship Leave program, devoting myself more fully to my research. I am looking forward to a productive year.  For the latter half of my leave, I shall be Visiting Professor of Philosophy at New York University.

A new large-cardinal never-indestructibility phenomenon, PSC-CUNY Enhanced Research Award, 2014-2015

J. D. Hamkins, A new large-cardinal never-indestructibility phenomenon, PSC-CUNY Enhanced Research Award 45, funded for 2014-2015.

Abstract. Professor Hamkins proposes to undertake research in the area of logic and foundations known as set theory, focused on the interaction of forcing and large cardinals. In a first project, he will investigate a new large cardinal non-indestructibility phenomenon, recently discovered in his joint work with Bagaria, Tsaprounis and Usuba. In a second project, continuing joint work with Cody, Gitik and Schanker, he will investigate new instances of the identity-crises phenomenon between weak compactness and other much stronger large cardinal notions.

 

Weak embedding phenomena in $\omega_1$-like models of set theory, Collaborative Incentive Research Grant award, 2013-2014

V. Gitman, J. D. Hamkins and T. Johnstone, “Weak embedding phenomena in $\omega_1$-like models of set theory,” Collaborative Incentive Research Grant award program, CUNY, 2013-2014.

Summary.  We propose to undertake research in the area of mathematical logic and foundations known as set theory, investigating a line of research involving an interaction of ideas and methods from several parts of mathematical logic, including set theory, model theory, models of arithmetic and computability theory. Specifically, the project will be to investigate the recently emerged weak embedding phenomenon of set theory, which occurs when there are embeddings between models of set theory (using the model-theoretic sense of embedding here) in situations where there can be no $\Delta_0$-elementary embedding. The existence of the phenomenon was established recently by Hamkins, who showed that every countable model of set theory, including every countable transitive model, is isomorphic to a submodel of its own constructible universe and thus has such a weak embedding into its constructive universe. In this project, we take the next logical step by investigating the weak embedding phenomena in $\omega_1$-like models of set theory. The study of $\omega_1$-like models of set theory is significant both because these models exhibit interesting second order properties and because their construction out of elementary chains of countable models directs us to create structurally rich countable models.

Research on the weak embedding phenomenon in set theory, PSC-CUNY grant award, 2013 – 2014

J. D. Hamkins, Research on the weak embedding phenomenon in set theory, PSC-CUNY grant award 44, traditional B, 2013 – 2014.

Research in set theory, PSC-CUNY Enhanced Research Award, 2011 – 2012

J. D. Hamkins, Research in set theoryPSC-CUNY Enhanced Research Award 42, 2011-2012.

Abstract.  The Principal Investigator, Professor Hamkins, pursues an active research program, with a stream of scholarly publications, international invitations to speak and distinguished grants, and is active in graduate education, currently supervising four PhD students. Professor Hamkins proposes to undertake research in the area of mathematical logic known as set theory, pursuing several projects unified by the classical Boolean ultrapower construction. Specifically, he seeks to investigate the extent to which various large cardinal extender embeddings are realized as Boolean ultrapowers, with their accompanying canonical generic objects, and to investigate the generalized Bukovsky-Dehornoy phenomenon, among other applications of the Boolean ultrapower. Professor Hamkins has a solid publication record on the topics broadly surrounding the proposed research, and has been a leading researcher on the

particular topic proposed.

Research in set theory, Simons Foundation, Collaborative Grant Award, 2011 – 2016

J. D. Hamkins, Research in set theory, Simons Foundation, Collaboration Grant Award, 2011-2016.

Research in set theory, NSF program grant, 2008- 2012

J. D. Hamkins, Research in Set Theory, National Science Foundation, NSF DMS 0800762, June 1, 2008 — May 31, 2012.

Summary abstract: Professor Hamkins will undertake research in the area of mathematical logic known as set theory, pursuing several projects that appear to be ripe for progress. First, the theory of models of arithmetic, usually considered to stand somewhat apart from set theory, has several fundamental questions exhibiting a deep set-theoretic nature, and an inter-speciality approach now seems called for. The most recent advances on Scott’s problem, for example, involve a sophisticated blend of techniques from models of arithmetic and the Proper Forcing Axiom.  Second, large cardinal indestructibility lies at the intersection of forcing and large cardinals, two central concerns of contemporary set-theoretic research and the core area of much of Professor Hamkins’s prior work, and recent advances have uncovered a surprisingly robust new phenomenon for relatively small large cardinals. The strongly unfoldable cardinals especially have served recently as a surprisingly efficacious substitute for supercompact cardinals in various large cardinal phenomena, including indestructibility and the consistency of fragments of the Proper Forcing Axiom. Third, Professor Hamkins will investigate questions in the emerging set-theoretic focus on second and higher order features of the set-theoretic universe.

This research in mathematical logic and set theory concentrates on topics at the foundations of mathematics, exploring the nature of mathematical infinity and the possibility of alternative mathematical universes. Our understanding of mathematical infinity, fascinating mathematicians and philosophers for centuries, has now crystallized in the large cardinal hierarchy, and a central concern of Professor Hamkins’ research will be to investigate how large cardinals are affected by forcing, the technique invented by Paul Cohen by which set theorists construct alternative mathematical universes. The diversity of these universes is astonishing, and set theorists are now able to construct models of set theory to exhibit precise pre-selected features.

In his final project, Professor Hamkins will pursue research aimed at an understanding of the most fundamental relations between the universe and these alternative mathematical worlds.

Proper forcing in large cardinal set theory, PSC-CUNY grant award, 2007 – 2008

J. D. Hamkins, Proper forcing in large cardinal set theoryPSC-CUNY grant award 38, 2007 – 2008.

The ground axiom, PSC-CUNY grant, 2006 – 2007

J. D. Hamkins, The ground axiom, PSC-CUNY grant PSC-CUNY 68198-00 37, 2006 – 2007.

Modal logics in set theory, NWO grants, 2006 – 2008

Modal logics in set theory, (with Benedikt Löwe), Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk (B 62-619), 2006-2008.

CUNY Collaboration in Mathematical Logic, CUNY Collaboration Incentive grant, 2005 – 2007

CUNY Collaboration in Mathematical Logic (6 PIs), CUNY Collaboration Incentive grant, 2005 – 2007.

Research in logic and set theory, PSC-CUNY grant 2005 – 2006

J. D. Hamkins, Research in logic and set theory, PSC-CUNY 67222-00 36, 2005 – 2006.

Diamonds in the large cardinal hierarchy, PSC-CUNY grant, 2004 – 2005

J. D. Hamkins, Diamonds in the large cardinal hierarchy, PSC-CUNY 66499-00 35, 2004 – 2005.