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Date: Feb. 6, 1997
World Leader on Geometry
of Soap Bubbles and Snowflakes Dies
PRINCETON, N.J.--Frederick J. Almgren, Jr., Princeton University's Henry Burchard Fine Professor of Mathematics, died Feb. 5 in Boston of pneumonia as a complication of a bone marrow transplant for myelodysplasia.
A pioneer and major figure in the fields of geometry, geometric measure theory, and the calculus of variations, Almgren did research on the geometry of surfaces of least area, including those modeling soap films and soap bubble clusters. He also worked on geometric evolution processes, such as those modeling the growth of snowflakes. He was the author of a book entitled Plateau's Problem, numerous research and expository articles, and a computer-generated mathematics video. Many of today's experts in these fields were educated by Almgren.
Born in Birmingham, Ala., on July 3, 1933, Almgren is a graduate of Princeton High School and Princeton University, from which he received a 1955 bachelor of science in engineering degree. He joined the Princeton faculty in 1962, the year he received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Brown University, and became a professor in 1972.
Almgren served as an officer and aviator with the U.S. Navy from 1955 to 1958 and flew jet fighter planes with Attack Squadron 66.
He was a founder of the National Science and Technology Research Center for Computation and Visualization of Geometric Structures in Minneapolis, and a member of its Minimal Surface Team.
The recipient of both Alfred P. Sloan and John Simon Guggenheim fellowships, Almgren was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1982. The Brown University Graduate School awarded him a medallion in 1988 "for contributions to society through scholarship and professional activity." Also in 1988, Princeton's Class of 1955 awarded him its Public Service Award "for contributions to society beyond the bounds of occupation."
Almgren is survived by his wife and coworker Jean Taylor of Rutgers University, and three children, Robert F. of the University of Chicago, Ann S. of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Karen T., a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All three children work in or study mathematics. Other survivors include his mother, Sarah W. of Princeton, sister Linda Almgren Kime and his brother David, both of Massachusetts.
A memorial service will be held in the Princeton University Chapel on March 15 at 11:00 a.m. Contributions in lieu of flowers should be sent to Princeton University.