Krystyna Kuperberg
Polish-American mathematician
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Krystyna Maria Kuperberg (born Krystyna M. Trybulec; 17 July 1944) is a Polish-American mathematician who currently works as a professor of mathematics at Auburn University. She is a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
July 17, 1944
Rice University (Ph.D.)
Krystyna M. Kuperberg | |
|---|---|
Krystyna Kuperberg in 1990 | |
| Born | Krystyna Maria Trybulec July 17, 1944 Tarnów, Poland |
| Education | University of Warsaw (M.S.) Rice University (Ph.D.) |
| Known for | Smooth counter-example to the Seifert conjecture |
| Spouse | Włodzimierz Kuperberg |
| Children | Greg Kuperberg |
| Relatives | Andrzej Trybulec |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Topology Dynamical systems |
| Workplaces | Auburn University |
| Karol Borsuk William Jaco | |
| Website | webhome |
Early life and family
Her parents, Jan W. and Barbara H. Trybulec, were pharmacists and owned a pharmacy in Tarnów. Her older brother is Andrzej Trybulec. Her husband Włodzimierz Kuperberg and her son Greg Kuperberg are also mathematicians,[1][2] while her daughter Anna Kuperberg is a photographer.[2][3]
Education and career
After attending high school in Gdańsk, she entered the University of Warsaw in 1962, where she studied mathematics. Her first mathematics course was taught by Andrzej Mostowski; later she attended topology lectures of Karol Borsuk and became fascinated by topology.[1][2]
After obtaining her undergraduate degree, Kuperberg began graduate studies at Warsaw under Borsuk, but stopped after earning a master's degree.[1][2] She left Poland in 1969 with her young family to live in Sweden, then moved to the United States in 1972.[4][1][2] She finished her Ph.D. in 1974, from Rice University, under the supervision of William Jaco.[1][5][2] In the same year, both she and her husband were appointed to the faculty of Auburn University.[1][2] From 1996 to 1998, Kuperberg served as an American Mathematical Society Council member at large.[6] In 1998, she was elected to the AMS Editorial Boards Committee.[7]
Contributions
In 1987 she solved a problem of Bronisław Knaster concerning bi-homogeneity of continua.[1][2] In the 1980s she became interested in fixed points and topological aspects of dynamical systems. In 1989 Kuperberg and Coke Reed solved a problem posed by Stanislaw Ulam in the Scottish Book.[8] The solution to that problem led to her 1993 work in which she constructed a smooth counterexample to the Seifert conjecture.[4][1][2] She has since continued to work in dynamical systems.[2]
Recognition
At Auburn University, Kuperberg was awarded an Alumni Professorship for five years.[1][2][4] In 1995 Kuperberg received the Alfred Jurzykowski Prize from the Kościuszko Foundation.[1][2] Her major lectures include an American Mathematical Society Plenary Lecture in March 1995, a Mathematical Association of America Plenary Lecture in January 1996, and an International Congress of Mathematicians invited talk in 1998.[4][9] In 2012, she became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.[10] In 2025, she was elected as a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences.[11]
Selected publications
- Kuperberg, Krystyna (1994). "A smooth counterexample to the Seifert conjecture". Annals of Mathematics. (2). 140 (3): 723–732. doi:10.2307/2118623. JSTOR 2118623. MR 1307902.
- Kuperberg, Greg; Kuperberg, Krystyna (1996). "Generalized counterexamples to the Seifert conjecture". Annals of Mathematics. (2). 143 (3): 547–576. arXiv:math/9802040. doi:10.2307/2118536. JSTOR 2118536. MR 1394969. S2CID 16309410.