Obituary: Frank B Knight

Abstract

After reciving his PhD from Princeton University in 1959, Frank Knight joined the mathematics department of the University of Minnesota. Frank liked Minnesota; the cold weather proved to be no difficulty for him since he climbed in the Rocky Mountains even in the winter time. But there was one problem: airborne flour dust, an unpleasant output of the large Companies in Minneapolis milling spring wheat from the farms of Minnesota. Frank discovered that lie was allergic to flour dust and decided that he would move to another location. His research was already recognized as important. His first four papers were published in the Illinois journal of Mathematics and the Transactions of the American Mathematical Society. At that time, J.L. Doob was one of the editors of the Illinois Journal and attracted some of the best papers in probability theory to the journal, including some of Frank’s. He was hired by Illinois and served on its faculty from 1963 until his retirement in 1991. After his retirement, Frank continued to be active in his research, perhaps even more active since he no longer had to grade papers and carefully prepare his classroom lectures as he had always done before.

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