Nationality United States | Name Jacob Goodman | |
Known for Open affine subsets of algebraic varietiesAllowable sequences and wiring diagramsGeometric transversal theoryDiscrete and Computational GeometryHandbook of Discrete and Computational GeometryNew York Composers Circle Notable awards Lester R. Ford Award (Mathematical Association of America, 1990) Books Handbook of Discrete and Computational Geometry, Second Edition Alma mater | ||
Jacob Eli Goodman (born November 15, 1933) is an American geometer who has spent most of his career at the City College of New York, where he is now professor emeritus. In 1986 he and Richard Pollack were the founding co-editors-in-chief of the journal Discrete and Computational Geometry.
Together, he and Pollack (his long-term collaborator) introduced concepts such as "allowable sequence of permutations" and "wiring diagram" which have played a major role in discrete geometry, specifically in the study of arrangements of pseudolines and (more generally) oriented matroids. His work with Pollack includes such results as the first nontrivial bounds on the number of order types and polytopes, and a generalization of the Hadwiger transversal theorem to higher dimensions In addition to the work above, Goodman is also known as the originator of the "pancake problem," an elementary question on permutations which he published under the pseudonym Harry Dweighter (sounds like "harried waiter"), and which gave rise to the concept of pancake sorting, which turns out to play a role in DNA rearrangements in molecular biology
Among Goodman's best-known work is the Handbook of Discrete and Computational Geometry, which he co-edited with Joseph O'Rourke. In 1999 Goodman returned to an old love, musical composition, and in 2002 was founding president of the New York Composers Circle.
In 2012 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.