Remembering Professor Emeritus Bjarni Jónsson
Bjarni Jónsson, Vanderbilt’s first Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, died Sept. 30 at the age of 96.
Born in Iceland, Jónsson earned his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California-Berkeley and also received an honorary degree from the University of Iceland. He was internationally recognized as a leading authority on universal algebra, lattice theory and algebraic logic.
In his career, Jónsson authored 89 technical papers and served on the editorial board of several major mathematics journals, including Algebra Universalis. He presented numerous invited talks at mathematics conferences around the world. In 1974, he was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians. In 2012 he was elected an inaugural fellow of the American Mathematical Society. He was also the recipient of Vanderbilt’s Harvie Branscomb Distinguished Professor Award in 1974 and the Earl Sutherland Prize for Achievement in Research in 1982.
Continue reading about Jónsson’s career here.