Mizan Rahman

Mizan Rahman (September 16, 1932 – January 5, 2015) was a Bangladeshi Canadian mathematician and writer. He specialized in fields of mathematics such as hypergeometric series and orthogonal polynomials. He also had interests encompassing literature, philosophy, scientific skepticism, freethinking and rationalism. He co-authored Basic Hypergeometric Series[1] with George Gasper. This book is widely considered as the standard work of choice for that subject of study.[2] He also published ten Bengali books.

Mizan Rahman
Born(1932-09-16)September 16, 1932
Dacca, East Bengal, British India
DiedJanuary 5, 2015(2015-01-05) (aged 82)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Alma materUniversity of Dhaka
University of Cambridge
University of New Brunswick
Known forcoauthor of the book Basic Hypergeometric Series
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsCarleton University

Education and career

Rahman was born and grew up in East Bengal, British India (nowadays Bangladesh). He studied at the University of Dhaka, where he obtained his B.Sc degree in Mathematics and Physics in 1953, and his M.Sc in Applied Mathematics in 1954. He received a B.A in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 1958, and an M.A. in mathematics from the same university in 1963. He was a senior lecturer at the University of Dhaka from 1958 until 1962. Rahman went to the University of New Brunswick of Canada in 1962 and received his Ph.D in 1965 with a thesis on the kinetic theory of plasma using singular integral equation techniques. After his Ph.D, he became an assistant professor, later a full professor, at Carleton University, where he spent the rest of his career, after his retirement as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus.[3] He unexpectedly died in Ottawa on January 5, 2015, at the age of 82.

Writing and other activities

Apart from his teaching and academic activities, Rahman wrote on various issues, particularly on those related to Bangladesh. He contributed to Internet blogs and various internet e-magazines, mainly in the Bengali language, covering his interests.[4] He was a prolific writer [5] and a regular contributor to Porshi, a Bengali monthly publication based in Silicon Valley, California.[6]

He was also the member of the advisory board of the Mukto-Mona, an Internet congregation of freethinkers, rationalists, skeptics, atheists and humanists of mainly Bengali and South Asian descent.[7]

Honors and awards
  • Best Teaching Award (1986)
  • Life-time membership in the Bharat Ganita Parishad (Indian Mathematical Society)
  • Fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (2002)
  • Award of Excellence from Bangladesh Publications (Ottawa) (1996)

Books

English

  • Basic Hypergeometric Series (co-author)
  • Special Functions, q-Series and Related Topics (co-editor)[8]
  • The Little Garden in the Corner (prose)

Bengali

  • তীর্থ আমার গ্রাম (Tirtha is my village) (1994)
  • লাল নদী (The Red River) (2001)
  • অ্যালবাম (Album) (2002)
  • প্রসঙ্গ নারী (Context - Women) (2002)
  • অনন্যা আমার দেশ (Ananya is my country) (2004)
  • আনন্দ নিকেতন (Ananda Niketan) (2006)
  • দুর্যোগের পূর্বাভাস (Premonition) (2007)
  • শুধু মাটি নয় (Not just soil) (2009)
  • ভাবনার আত্মকথন (Autobiography of thought) (2010)
  • শূন্য (Zero) (2012)
  • শূন্য থেকে মহাবিশ্ব With Avijit Roy(The universe from zero)(2015)

References
  1. George Gasper and Mizan Rahman, Basic Hypergeometric Series, first edition, 1990; second extended edition, 2004, Encyclopedia of Mathematics and Its Applications, 96, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-83357-8.
  2. MR1052153: 797 citations of first edition; MR2128719: 469 citations of second edition (August 25, 2015).
  3. R. Askey, M.E.H. Ismail and E. Koelink, Mizan Rahman, His Mathematics And Literary Writings, pp. 1–28 in Theory and Applications of Special Functions, Dev. Math. 13, Springer-Verlag, 2005.
  4. Mizan Rahman's Article Page in Mukto-Mona
  5. Dr. Mizan Rahman Speaks to VOA About His Writings
  6. "Porshi Press release 2009". Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
  7. The list of Mukto-Mona Advisory Board & Editorial Board
  8. Special Functions, q-Series and Related Topics, Fields Institute Communications, volume 14, American Mathematical Society, Providence, 1997.
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