John David Brillhart (November 13, 1930 – May 21, 2022) was a mathematician who worked in number theory at the University of Arizona.
John Brillhart | |
|---|---|
| Born | John David Brillhart November 13, 1930 |
| Died | May 21, 2022 (aged 91) |
| Alma mater | University of California |
| Known for | Continued fraction factorization |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Arizona |
| Doctoral advisor | D. H. Lehmer |
Early life and education
editBrillhart was born on November 13, 1930, in Berkeley, California.[1][2]
He studied at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received his A.B. in 1953, his M.A. in 1966, and his Ph.D. in 1967.[1][3] His doctoral thesis in mathematics was supervised by D. H. Lehmer, with assistance from Leonard Carlitz.[1]
Before becoming a mathematician, he served in the United States Army.[1]
Career
editBrillhart joined the faculty at the University of Arizona in 1967 and retired in 2001.[1] He advised two Ph.D. students.[1]
Research
editBrillart worked in integer factorization. His joint work with Michael A. Morrison in 1975 describes how to implement the continued fraction factorization method originally developed by Lehmer and Ralph Ernest Powers in 1931.[1][4] One consequence was the first factorization of the Fermat number .[1][4] Their ideas were influential in the development of the quadratic sieve by Carl Pomerance.[1]
Brillhart was a member of the Cunningham Project, which factors Mersenne, Fermat, and related numbers.[1] He was also a founding member and financial contributor to the Number Theory Foundation started by John L. Selfridge.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ballot, Christian; Blecksmith, Richard; Filaseta, Michael; Morrison, Michael; Morton, Patrick; Wagstaff Jr., Samuel S. (October 2022). "John Brillhart (1930–2022)" (PDF). Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 69 (9): 1469.
- ^ "Brillhart, John, 1930- - LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies | Library of Congress, from LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress)".
- ^ John Brillhart at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ a b Morrison, Michael A.; Brillhart, John (January 1975). "A Method of Factoring and the Factorization of F7". Mathematics of Computation. 29 (129). American Mathematical Society: 183–205. doi:10.2307/2005475. JSTOR 2005475.
External links
edit- Brillhart, John; Lehmer, D.H.; Selfridge, J.L.; Tuckerman, Bryant; Wagstaff Jr, S.S. (2002). Factorizations of bn ± 1, b=2,3,5,6,7,10,11,12 Up to High Powers. American Mathematical Society. ISBN 0-8218-3301-4.