Willard Van Orman Quine is remembered in mathematics for work the next generation could build on.
The record lists Willard Van Orman Quine as American philosopher and logician (1900–2000).
Willard Van Orman Quine was born at Akron in 1908. His recorded nationality is United States. He studied at Harvard University and Oberlin College.
Around the turn of the twentieth century the foundations of mathematics were under open attack, and set theory and logic became urgent questions.
His academic posts were held at Harvard University, Wesleyan University and United States Navy.
The recorded fields of work are model theory, set theory and ontology.
Among his principal contributions are Word and Object, The Roots of Reference and Two Dogmas of Empiricism. Mathematics accumulates without discarding: a proof from two thousand years ago is still a proof.
The honours record reads: Rolf Schock Prizes (1993) and Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy (1996).
That the work was done from United States matters: mathematical training, institutions and the language of publication have never been evenly distributed.
Willard Van Orman Quine died in 2000, aged 92. The proofs remain, and a proof does not decay - which is the particular permanence mathematics offers.
Achievements
- Rolf Schock Prizes — 1993
- Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy — 1996
- Notable work: Word and Object
- Notable work: The Roots of Reference
- Notable work: Two Dogmas of Empiricism
- Notable work: Quine–McCluskey algorithm
- Held posts at Harvard University, Wesleyan University and United States Navy
- Fields: model theory, set theory and ontology
