Apr 07, 2010 - Claremont, CA -

An honored guest at a mathematics conference in Iran? A passion for the sport of curling? A lover of dogs and small children? While many of us thought we knew Mel Henriksen, professor of mathematics emeritus at Harvey Mudd College, this softer side of Mel was revealed when his long and productive career was commemorated by the Claremont Mathematics community, an assortment of prominent mathematicians, and members of Mel’s family at a one day conference on Saturday, March 27th.

Mel passed away on October 14, 2009 at the age of 82 and spent a significant portion of his life at Harvey Mudd College where he served as a professor of mathematics from 1969 to 1997. After Mel retired, he remained an active member of the mathematics community in Claremont and beyond. Henriksen was well known in the mathematics community for his work on the study of rings of continuous functions, which involves the interplay of algebra and topology.

Jezmyne Dene, the Claremont Science Librarian who perhaps knew Mel best in his last few years compiled a set of Mel memorabilia, including copies of Mel’s papers (he authored over a hundred publications) and the single variable calculus text that he wrote. Mel's published papers spanned over half a century, starting in the early 1950s and continuing through this past year.

The opening speaker, W. Wistar Comfort (Wesleyan University), set the stage by recounted some of Mel’s groundbreaking work in topology. Prof. Comfort fondly noted that after a hiatus of communication of months or years, Mel was notorious for sending e-mails that consisted solely of mathematical questions, Mel’s way of saying hello. He also noted that Mel was an expert at creating collaboration that tackled difficult and intricate questions. Sometimes these collaborations spanned multiple continents, with co-authors acquainted only via e-mail.

Many of the participants commented that it was ironic that this conference would have been most enjoyed by Mel himself. Through the wizardry of Judy Grabiner, Flora Sanborn Pitzer Professor of Mathematics at Pitzer College, Mel made an appearance and recounted his days as a mathematician. Judy, as a historian of mathematics interviewed Mel in 2006 to create an oral history for the Archives of American Mathematics. Hearing Mel recount anecdotes from his long career brought back his passion for mathematics, his sense of humor, and his strong commitment and admiration of his collaborators and friends.

Three former students fondly recalled Mel’s mentoring and guidance; Suzanne Larson (Loyola Marymount-Los Angeles, CGU ‘84) recounted tales of Mel including advice on how to pass a graduate oral exam, Frank Smith (Kent State University) gave examples of Mel’s encyclopedic memory for papers and results, and Ted Chinburg (University of Pennsylvania, HMC ’75) likened Mel’s dexterity and inventiveness with mathematics to the virtuosity of a blues piano player.

Garth Dales (University of Leeds) described a seminal collaboration between Paul Erdös, Len Gillman and Mel. Paul Erdös was one of the most prolific mathematicians of all time and mathematicians measure their connectivity by their Erdös number, the number of “hops” via co-authorship of a published paper needed to get to Erdös. Mel of course has an Erdös number of 1 (a characteristic he shares with HMC President Maria Klawe). Prof. Dales clued us in on the fact that Mel was involved in some of the conversations where the concept of Erdös number was dreamed up.

Hank Krieger (Professor of Mathematics Emeritus) described Mel’s arrival at HMC in 1969, when he was appointed Chair of the Department of Mathematics (known affectionately as “Chairman Mel”). Mel promoted world-class research as a departmental value, a legacy that is was reflected in our faculty today. He also recounted how Mel advised a Clinic project on “Jury Utilization” for the county of Los Angeles, a project that helped shape the development of their one-day or one-trial policy.

Sandy Grabiner, Joseph N. Fiske Professor of Mathematics at Pomona College described Mel’s early days in Claremont, how he was pivotal in the development of the Claremont colloquium, and how Mel was a “communitarian,” who was committed to nurturing his junior colleagues and developing a sense of mathematical community in the consortium.

Don Johnson (New Mexico State University) spoke about Mel’s role in the mathematical community, and how he promoted collaboration and networking among topologists. One of Mel’s passions later in life was reaching out to mathematicians in third world countries, helping them find resources and even visiting his collaborators in Iran where he was treated as an honored dignitary.

Three of Mel’s collaborators spoke to Mel’s peripatetic nature, traveling between collaborators and leaving a trail of topological results and anecdotes in his wake. Grant Woods (University of Manitoba) spoke of Mel’s time in Winnipeg, where he and his wife apparently became avid members of the local curling club. Ralph Kopperman (City College of New York) shed some light on the fact that Mel was at his heart a New Yorker; he also brought a watercolor of Mel from Ralph’s son David that captures a sense of Mel’s enthusiasm. Joanne Walters-Wayland (Chapman College) spoke of Mel’s last decade of life, and how Mel’s generosity of spirit and continued enthusiasm lead to the development of OCCTAL (The Orange Center for Computation, Topology and Algebra).

Mel’s family was well represented with his three children, Tom Henriksen, Richard Henriksen and Susan Beard and two of his grandchildren Woody Henriksen and Jessica Beard. The family hosted a more personal memorial the next day at Mel’s home in Claremont.

The conference was organized by Sandy Grabiner (Pomona), Asuman Aksoy (CMC), and Andrew Bernoff (HMC) and was made possible by the generosity of the HMC Mathematics Department and the HMC Administration. Pomona College’s Barbara Beechler Colloquium Fund supported Garth Dales’ travel.