Re: Stephen H. Schanuel

Re: Stephen H. Schanuel

[Fred E.J. Linton]

I had known Steve Schanuel for so long, met him in so many
and such varied circumstances, and held so admiring an appreciation
as much for his mathematical perceptiveness as for his endearing
humanity, musicality, and general good cheer, that my reaction,
last week, to Bill's reluctant report of Steve's death left me
simply speechless.

How could it be that Steve was not simply automatically going to
outlive me, by decades?

Today I found the latest AMS Notices in my mailbox, with its Memorial
Tribute to Friedrich Hirzebruch, who passed away, aged 84, in 2012.
This is the same Hirzebruch whose famous little Springer hardback on 
Topological Methods in Algebraic Geometry was at least as much my
constant companion, as a grad student at Columbia in the half-decade
centered around 1960, as the equally famous Princeton hardbacks on 
Homological Algebra and Algebraic Topology that Sammy Eilenberg had
his signature on. 

Of Hirzebruch, too, it seemed, I had expected a life unstopped by death.

Finally, after I saw the 1956 snapshot (taken in Mexico at the
conference at which yet another topological immortal lost his life)
of Chern, Eilenberg, and Hirzebruch, now all passed on, it all came 
together for me -- it all "clicked": 

That death we see is not so much the loss of a beloved friend, 
an admired colleague, a revered teacher, an astute researcher,
though it certainly is that, too -- yet it isn't so much a wordly loss 
as it is that History has rung up a new gain: no longer does Steve 
belong so exclusively to his peers, colleagues, friends, and family, 
as to History.

All the many who have left us behind on this world -- George Rinehart,
Jon Beck, Eva Gray, Sammy, Saunders, Steve, Jim Lambek, Hirzebruch,
and all the many others we would think of here -- they have entered 
into the arms of History, and we may but hope History will treat them 
as kindly as we would, were it all up to us.

Peace, Steve; and peace be with all who love you.

-- Fred Linton

---

------ Original Message ------
Received: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 07:36:30 PM EDT
From: wlawvere <wlawvere@buffalo.edu>
To: <categories@mta.ca>
Subject: categories: Stephen H. Schanuel

> Stephen H. Schanuel
> 
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> It is with deep sadness that I report that my best friend,
> Steve Schanuel, died today.
> 
> His intellectual generosity and quick mathematical
> wit,  legendary among colleagues and students alike,
> will continue to inspire many.
> 
> Bill Lawvere




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Stephen H. Schanuel

[wlawvere]

Stephen H. Schanuel

Dear colleagues,

It is with deep sadness that I report that my best friend,
Steve Schanuel, died today.

His intellectual generosity and quick mathematical
wit,  legendary among colleagues and students alike,
will continue to inspire many.

Bill Lawvere




[For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

Re: Stephen H. Schanuel

[Ross Street]

Dear Bill

This is very sad news.

You, your family, and Steve’s family have our sincere condolences. 

Steve Schanuel was a gifted mathematician who could focus fully on a problem
under discussion and, as you say, generously offer his deep understanding.
We were fortunate to have Steve twice visit Macquarie, where he was
greatly appreciated, not only by the category theorists, but by the
number theorists, and my family. I have very warm memories of
driving back from an outing in the Blue Mountains where he had all
of us (Margery and our boys) heartily singing songs in rounds.

Another time, I was driving the gang back to Macquarie
after the Seminar had been at Sydney University. We were stuck in horrible
traffic in pouring rain waiting to cross the Harbour Bridge. I was expressing
frustration, to put it mildly. Steve said something like: ``Ross, here we are,
among friends, in comfortable chairs, discussing mathematics. Relax!’'
Thinking of that still helps reduce my road rage.

A meeting with Steve always left you feeling much happier,
and certainly more informed. But now I feel a huge loss.

Ross
 
On 25 Jul 2014, at 9:27 am, wlawvere <wlawvere@buffalo.edu> wrote:

> Stephen H. Schanuel
> 
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> It is with deep sadness that I report that my best friend,
> Steve Schanuel, died today.
> 
> His intellectual generosity and quick mathematical
> wit,  legendary among colleagues and students alike,
> will continue to inspire many.
> 
> Bill Lawvere
> 
> 
> 
> 



[For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

Re: Stephen H. Schanuel

[Michael Barr]

I was very sorry to hear this.  I always liked Steve a lot.  When I came 
to Columbia as a newly minted instructor, I was assigned to a large office 
with one other new PhD and four graduate students, one of whom was Steve. 
I theoretically specialized (in those days) in homological algebra. 
Nonetheless I learned more about homological algebra than I had before 
just from talking to Steve.  For one thing, I had never heard of 
Schanuel's lemma nor how it could be used to prove the invariance of 
homological dimension.  He also showed me how to compute the Catalan 
numbers (the nth Catalan number is the number of ways of associating a 
product of n terms).  I was one of the first to hear what is now known as 
Schanuel's conjecture, which is an important area of study in number 
theory.

Rest in Peace, Steve.

Michael

----- Original Message -----
From: "wlawvere" <wlawvere@buffalo.edu>
To: categories@mta.ca
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2014 7:27:21 PM
Subject: categories: Stephen H. Schanuel

Stephen H. Schanuel

Dear colleagues,

It is with deep sadness that I report that my best friend,
Steve Schanuel, died today.

His intellectual generosity and quick mathematical
wit,  legendary among colleagues and students alike,
will continue to inspire many.

Bill Lawvere


[For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

Re: Stephen H. Schanuel

[alberto peruzzi]

Dear Bill, 

have my condolences. I only had the chance to meet Sthephen on a few occasions and yet the brightness of his mind, the originality of his way of approaching the problems, no less than his kindness, were unforgettable.

Alberto Peruzzi
 
Il giorno 25/lug/2014, alle ore 01:27, wlawvere <wlawvere@buffalo.edu> ha scritto:

> Stephen H. Schanuel
> 
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> It is with deep sadness that I report that my best friend,
> Steve Schanuel, died today.
> 
> His intellectual generosity and quick mathematical
> wit,  legendary among colleagues and students alike,
> will continue to inspire many.
> 
> Bill Lawvere
> 


[For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

Re: Stephen H. Schanuel

[Marco Grandis]

Dear Bill,

I want to express my deep appreciation of Steve's brightness and
kindness, his wide interests and promptness to help colleagues by
suggesting new approaches or connections.
I had one occasion of talking with him at leisure, of which I keep a
dear memory: traveling together by train to reach the place of some
meeting in Italy.

Sorry to send my regards with condolences,   Marco



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