Jan-Erik Ingvar Roos (16 October 1935 – 15 December 2017)[1] was a Swedish mathematician whose research interests were in abelian category theory, homological algebra, and related areas.

He was born in Halmstad, in the province of Halland on the Swedish west coast.[2] Roos enrolled at Lund University in 1954, and started studying mathematics with Lars Gårding in 1957.[3] Under Gårding's direction he wrote a thesis on ordinary differential equation, and graduated in 1958 with a licentiate degree.[2][4] Later that year he went to Paris on a doctoral scholarship;[3] there, he gravitated towards the mathematical environment at the Institut Henri Poincaré, and the various seminars held there. After a while, he started attending Alexander Grothendieck's seminar at the Institut des hautes études scientifiques in Bures-sur-Yvette, where he became interested in abstract algebra and algebraic geometry.[5] In 1967 he was invited by Saunders Mac Lane to visit the University of Chicago for three months; Mac Lane was impressed by Roos and later wrote a very positive letter of recommendation for him.[3]

Upon his return to Sweden, Roos was appointed Professor of Mathematics at Stockholm University in 1970, and started building a strong algebra school.[2] He was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1980 and was its President from 1980 to 1982.[6] While serving on the Academy, he was on the committees deciding the Rolf Schock Prizes in Mathematics[7] and the Crafoord Prize in Astronomy and Mathematics.[8]

Roos made important contributions to homological algebra, and did extensive computer-assisted studies of Hilbert–Poincaré series and their rationality.[9] A special issue of the journal Homology, Homotopy and Applications ("The Roos Festschrift volume") was published in 2002, on the occasion of his 65th birthday.[10]

He died on 15 December 2017 at his home in Uppsala[2] and is buried at the Uppsala old cemetery.

Publications

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References

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  1. ^ Persson, Ulf (15 February 2018). "Jan-Erik Roos 16/10/1935 – 15/12/2017" (PDF). Bulletinen (in Swedish): 3–6. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Jan-Erik Roos: 1935–2017" (PDF). London Mathematical Society Newsletter. 477: 45. 2018. MR 3837430.
  3. ^ a b c Almkvistl, Gert (15 February 2018). "My friend Jan-Erik Roos" (PDF). Bulletinen (in Swedish): 10–13. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  4. ^ Jan-Erik Roos at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  5. ^ Laudal, Olav Arnfinn (15 February 2018). "Jan Erik Roos in Paris" (PDF). Bulletinen (in Swedish): 6–10. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  6. ^ Roos, Jan-Erik (June 2012). "Torsten Ekedahl" (PDF). European Mathematical Society Newsletter. 84: 16–18. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  7. ^ "Rolf Schock – uniting philosophy, mathematics, music and art". news.cision.com. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  8. ^ "The Crafoord Prize in Mathematics and Astronomy 2008". crafoordprize.se. 17 January 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  9. ^ Avramov, Luchezar L. (2002). "The work of Jan-Erik Roos on the cohomology of commutative rings". Homology, Homotopy and Applications. 4 (2): 1–16. doi:10.4310/HHA.2002.v4.n2.a1. ISSN 1532-0073. MR 1918181. Zbl 1003.01010.
  10. ^ Lambe, Larry; Löfwall, Clas, eds. (January 2002). "The Roos Festschrift volumes 1 and 2". Homology, Homotopy and Applications. 4 (2): ii–vi, 1–225 and 227–437. MR 1918180. and MR1918521